|
Date |
Ship
Cruise Line |
Event |
Type of Incident |
| November 6 |
Solstice
Celebrity
Cruises |
From a passenger: I'm a passenger on Celebrity Solstice between Santorini and Naples. At 9PM local time tonight, a female passenger jumped purposefully from Deck 14. She has been identified by the crew but the name not released. The coast guard are conducting a search but she has not been found as yet. |
Pax overboard |
| November 6 |
Grand Voyager
Iberocruises |
It has been reported that the ship left Funchal today, 21 hours later than scheduled. I was originally scheduled to depart yesterday evening. There have been no reports of the cause for the delay. |
Delayed departure |
| November 6 |
Grandeur of the Seas
Royal Caribbean
International |
Hampton Roads dot com reporrts a convicted sex offender has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after he admitted downloading child pornography. The thrity-two year old man was arrested in May after he debarked the ship at the Norfolk cruise ship terminal. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents pulled him from the line and searched his laptop, which contained 69 child pornography videos. The search was conducted under a new policy that allows agents to search any electronic device carried by international travelers. |
Pax arrested with child porn |
| November 5 |
Independence of the Seas
Royal Caribbean
International |
The Huddersfield Examiner reports a couple is suing their travel agaent after contracting food poisoning while on aboard the ship. According to the article, the couple left Southampton in June for France, Portugal, Spain and Italy. During the first few nights they sent food back several times and also saw curdled milk and yoghurts in faulty chiller cabinets. But it was two days before the end of their two-week holiday when they were hit by severe diarrhoea, fever and headaches. Mr Wormald became so ill he lost 10.5lbs in weight ... Tests showed the couple had both contracted campylobacter – a common form of food poisoning which was treated with antibiotics. |
Food poisoning |
| November 4 |
Norwegian Dawn
Norwegian
Cruise Line |
The Royal Gazette (Bermuda) reports on a trial in which a passenger was found with 32 packages of marijuana in his cabin, with the intent to import into Bermuda. According to testimony, the passenger arrived on June 17. Police noticed him acting suspiciously after he disembarked in Dockyard. He was going from phone booth to phone booth in an apparent attempt to contact someone. After he re-boarded the ship, they searched his cabin and found 32 packages of cannabis in his suitcase and under his bed. |
Drug bust |
| November 2 |
Science News reports on an article in the November 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases entitled "Cruise Ship Environmental Hygiene and the Risk
of Norovirus Infection Outbreaks: An Objective
Assessment of 56 Vessels over 3 Years" (pp 1321-1317; Authors: P.C. Carling, L.A. Bruno-Murtha, and J.K. Griffiths). The article in Science is entitled "Poorly Cleaned Public Cruise Ship Restrooms May Predict Norovirus Outbreaks." Copied below is the abstract from the journal article:
Background. Norovirus infection outbreaks (NoVOs) occur frequently in closed populations, such as cruise
ship passengers. Environmental contamination is believed to play an important role in NoVO propagation.
Methods. Trained health care professionals covertly evaluated the thoroughness of disinfection cleaning (TDC)
of 6 standardized objects (toilet seat, flush handle or button, toilet stall inner handhold, stall inner door handle,
restroom inner door handle, and baby changing table surfaces) with high potential for fecal contamination in
cruise ship public restrooms, by means of a previously validated novel targeting method.
Results. Fifty-six cruise ships (∼30% of 180 vessels operated by 9 large cruise lines) were evaluated from July
2005 through August 2008. Overall, 37% (range, 4%–100%; 95% confidence interval, 29.2%–45.4%) of 8344
objects in 273 randomly selected public restrooms were cleaned daily. The TDC did not differ by cruise line and
did not correlate with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vessel Sanitation Program inspection
scores (r2, .002; P = .75). More than half the vessels had overall TDC scores <30%, although several of these lowscoring
ships had near-perfect CDC sanitation scores. The mean TDC of the 3 ships evaluated within 4 months
before a NoVO (10.3%) was substantially less than the mean TDC of the 40 ships that did not experience NoVOs
(40.4%) (P < .004).
Conclusions. An objective evaluation of public restroom environmental hygiene on 56 cruise ships found that
only 37% of selected toilet area objects were cleaned on a daily basis. Low TDC scores may predict subsequent
NoVO-prone vessels. Enhanced public restroom cleaning may prevent or moderate NoVOs on cruise ships. |
Norovirus |
| November 2 |
Statendam
Holland
America Line |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in September. On September 16 the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of pH. |
Environmental |
| November 2 |
Sapphire Princess
Princess Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in September. There were three violations. The ship's effluent on September 8 exceeded the allowable level of zinc, on September 16 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia, and onSeptember 16 exceeded the allowable level of copper. |
Environmental |
| November 2 |
Island Princess
Princess Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in September. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on September 3 and September 11 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. |
Environmental |
| November 2 |
Sea Princess
Princess Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in September. On September 4, the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. |
Environmental |
| November 2 |
Golden Princess
Princess Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in September. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on September 7 and September 14 exceeded the allowable level of zinc. |
Environmental |
| November 2 |
Diamond Princess
Princess Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in September. On September 15, the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of zinc. |
Environmental |
| October 31 |
Iranian cruise ship |
Press TV (Iran) reports a cruise ship has gone down off the port city of Genaveh in the Iranian southern province of Bushehr. The ship went down Friday afternoon after being hit by massive waves. It was en route from Khark Island -- in the vicinity of Iran's major port city in the Persian Gulf, Bushehr -- to Genaveh port city -- located on the Persian Gulf cost between Bushehr and Daylem port city. One life was lost and three others went missing in the incident. Twenty-one people were recovered by boats fishing at the site. |
Sank |
| October 30 |
Norwegian Spirit
Norwegian
Cruise Line |
The CDC reports 9 of 965 (0.93%)
crew and 73 of 1991 (3.66%) passengers had reported ill with
gastrointestinal illness on
a 16 day cruise ending November 8 in New Orleans. |
Illness |
| October 28 |
Norwegian Majesty
Norwegian
Cruise Line |
The Bermuda Sun reports a 72-year-old male passenger died of a suspected heart attack after a helmet-diving trip off the east end yesterday afternoon.
He collapsed on board the boat after completing a helmet dive with Peppercorn Diving. Staff tried to revive the man, who was visiting with his wife, but to no avail. |
Death after shore excursion |
| October 25 |
Balmoral
Fred
Olsen Cruises |
Nova News reports: After weeks of planning and getting ready, the ship sailed by Shelburne (Nova Scotia) this morning to the disappointment of many. The ship and its 1,300 passengers were scheduled to spend the day in Shelburne, but the visit was cancelled Sunday morning as heavy rains and high winds hit the area. |
Skipped port call |
| October 24 |
Norwegian Jewel
Norwegian
Cruise Line |
The Chronicle Herald reports an employee that visited Halifax on Friday was arrested after border agents allegedly found sexually explicit images of children on his cellphone. Menandro Lim Lanzar, 31, of the Philippines was arraigned in Halifax provincial court on a Customs Act charge of importing child pornography. Mr. Lanzar, quarter master on the Norwegian Jewel, was remanded to the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth until Tuesday, when he returns to court. Blair MacDonald, a criminal investigator with the Canada Border Services Agency, said Mr. Lanzar was inspected as he was getting off the ship at Pier 22. UPDATE: The Chronical Herald reports the crew member has been sentenced to 100 days in jail and will then be deported. |
Child pornography arrest |
| October 24 |
Brilliance of the Seas
Royal Caribbean
International |
The current cruise has experienced bad weather and other problems (see October 13). The latest from a passenger is: We were due to dock in Barcelona tomorrow morning - update 7pm tomorrow night. Weather was very rough last night hardly slept. So the plan is to use the ship as a hotel tomorrow night in Barcelona and the new cruise will lose a day. Weather now is clear and sunny but still bumpy. According to a poster at Cruise Critic: I'm scheduled with 7 others to cruise the Brilliance tomorrow, Sun. Just got off the phone with RCCL, here's the update, Boarding will be on Monday now at 7:00 PM, Anyone who has scheduled their air with RCCL will be met at the Barcelona airport and transferred to a hotel, courtesy of RCCL. Outside cabins will be given a $200pp OCB, Balcony cabins will be given $300PP OCB. I'm just glad I called, because nowhere on their site are these changes. There will be an extra sea day and they will be skipping Nice, and Florence. Needless to say am very disappointed, but I'm sure we will make the best of it. Any day away from work is a vacation.
|
Late disembarkation/ delayed embarkation |
| October 23 |
Hrossey
NorthLink |
The Orcadian Daily News (Orkney Islands) reports that four passengers on NorthLink Ferry's northbound Hrossey sustained minor injuries in severe weather conditions on Thursday morning. The vessel encountered heavier than forecast south-easterly gales (force 10) off the Fair Isle, and, in very heavy seas, a sudden roll to port led to four passengers sustaining minor injuries. Additionally, a number of cars were slightly damaged and a plate glass panel was broken by a sofa. Speaking on Thursday morning, a NorthLink spokesman commented: "Four passengers sustained minor injuries when the vessel lurched unexpectedly during a particularly heavy roll — one who who sitting in the bar, one who was asleep in a bunk and a couple who were asleep on a sofa. "So far as I am aware, at the moment, hospitalisation was not required." |
Injuries in rough seas |
| October 23 |
Serenade of the Seas
Royal Caribbean
International |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in August. On August 6, the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of zinc. |
Environmental |
| October 23 |
Diamond Princess
Princess Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in August. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on August 12 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia and zinc. |
Environmental |
| October 23 |
Sapphire Princess
Princess Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in August. There were three violations. The ship's effluent on August 11 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia and on August 11 and AUgust 25 the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of biological oxygen demand. |
Environmental |
| October 23 |
Sea Princess
Princess Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in August. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on August 16 and August 26 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. |
Environmental |
| October 23 |
Pacific Princess
Princess Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in August. On August 3, the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of copper. |
Environmental |
| October 23 |
Golden Princess
Princess Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in August. There were three violations. The ship's effluent on August 3 exceeded the allowable level of chlorine and on August 3 and August 10 exceeded the allowable level of zinc. |
Environmental |
| October 23 |
Island Princess
Princess Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in August. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on August 14 and August 20 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. |
Environmental |
| October 22 |
Zuiderdam
Holland
America Line |
Tico Times (Costa Rica) reports a dockworkers strike that began Tuesday has paralyzed Costa Rica's Caribbean port of Limón and prevented a 1,896-passenger cruise ship from docking. On Tuesday, workers began a protest for higher pay and proceeded to block three outgoing ships in Moín and two in Limón. The union's administration is trying to distance itself from the strike, calling it irresponsible and unjustified. The strike ended the following day. |
Missed port call |
| October 22 |
Noordam
Holland
America Line |
Gibraltar News from Panorama reports the ship sailed into Gibraltar yesterday with food poisoning onboard. The bug caused a stir with some tour guides and coach drivers, as the word got round of what some were saying was an outbreak of gastro-enteritis. A number of drivers/guides refused to work given the nature of the outbreak. What is regarded as surprising is that passengers were allowed to come ashore, when in other ports it is sometimes the case that passengers are barred to avoid the spread of a bug onboard the ship. Questioned by PANORAMA, ship agents Turner & Co confirmed that there had been "some food poisoning onboard, but contained, and confined to one part of the ship." UPDATE: The CDC reports 16 of 784 (2.04%)
crew and 140 of 1826 (7.67%) passengers had reported ill with
gastrointestinal illness on
a 15 day cruise ending November 1 in Ft. Lauderdale. |
Illness |
| October 21 |
Black Watch
Fred
Olsen Cruises |
A passenger writes: I was a passenger on board the Black Watch on 21.10.09. The pilot had been taken on board to guide the ship into La Coruna Harbour (Spain) at around 11.00 am. Rough winds were battering the local coastline but the weather was otherwise fine and the approach into La Caruna was otherwise unremarkable. Apparently, due to the pilot with the captain's permission misreading red and green marker bouys, and taking the wrong line into the harbour, the ship was steered into dangerous waters on its approach and in a very short space of time, ie 15 minutes, was unbalanced and listed severely resulting in passengers flying across the reception rooms on chairs, cabins and balcony doors/windows being damaged and the ship taking on water. |
Severe list |
| October 21 |
Ship unknown
Carnival Cruise Lines |
WPRI-TV reports a couple was left them stranded in the Bahamas. The passengers knew they only had a few hours on the island when their ship dropped them off. They say the itinerary said the ship left at 5:00. They were back to the dock by 3:30, but the ship was gone. It was only then that they learned the departure time had changed from 5:00 to 2:00. Their son, who did make it on the boat, says an announcement was made early that morning, when Neila and Carlos were asleep. |
Left stranded in port |
| October 19 |
Crown Princess
Princess Cruises |
The Cape Breton Post reports ship cancelled its planned call in Sydney(Nova Scotia) today due to weather. The port authority said the ship was about an hour away from Sydney this morning when the decision was made to cancel the stop due to high winds off shore. |
Port skipped |
| October 18 |
Boudicca
Fred
Olsen Cruises |
The Daily Mail reports sixteen passengers on a Mediterranean cruise have been confined to their cabins after their ship was hit by the norovirus sickness bug. They were isolated after the ship left Venice yesterday with 850 passengers on board. The outbreak appeared to start last week when the ship’s doctor confined himself to his own quarters, suspecting he had the highly contagious bug which causes sickness and diarrhoea. Update: Travel Weekly reports 57 passengers out of the 1,140 onboard Boudicca have so far been affected by gastroenteritis-like symptoms. Twenty-seven passengers remain in isolation, including six who are under observation. The ship, which is on a 21-night cruise of the Adriatic, departed Portsmouth on October 5 and is due to end in Portsmouth October 26. |
Norovirus |
| October 16 |
Caribbean Princess
Princess Cruises |
Cruise Critic
reports while at sea today en route from Halifax to New
York, the encountered gale force winds that caused the ship to list.
According to an official statement from the cruise line, there were no
passenger injuries and only one minor crew injury; this crewmember has
already returned to work. The severity of the list in actual degrees is
not yet known. Cruise Critic member JohnLauben was onboard and shares
this post on the Princess forum: "Currently onboard, off the coast of
New England. We're in a storm, with gale-force winds up to 70 knots. We
listed a bit this morning ... several waiters in the Horizon Court
fell, carrying trays of food or other dining supplies. A piano in the
Explorer's Lounge slid off the stage, and was [totalled]. The galley
and backstage tours were cancelled...." From a Reader: Seems there might be more Damage to the Caribbean Princess, last night [Oct 19] she left Boston late [9pm ish] due to inspections and possible repairs [report of DECK Damage / Cracked]. According to Sources at the port, Llyods of London was there doing the inspection[s] as well.See here for more information. |
Storm damage |
| October 15 |
Discovery
Voyages
of Discovery |
The Cruising
Forum reports: After all of the difficulties last year that
ended up with Discovery missing ports and having more than the usual
number of inspections...along with some very unhappy passengers and the
eventual loss of the managing director, it appears that the gremlins
have returned. Reports from various sources state that the ship has
suffered another engine breakdown in September and that caused Lisbon
to be missed. According to Paris MOU she was inspected in Venice on
September 9th, 2009 and she again had deficiencies in her engineroom,
safety training & ancilliary equipment departments. This sort of
problem plagued her last year also. |
Engine problems |
| October 15 |
Grimaldi Lines |
The Daily
Mail reports: A couple, from Terni near Perugia, had booked a
three-day cruise last month from with Grimaldi Lines from Civitavecchia
to the Spanish city of Barcelona. They had booked the holiday using
loyalty points from a supermarket. But when they arrived at the port,
they found the ship surrounded by TV crews covering the 'Revuelta gay
cruise' - Italy's first all homosexual cruise. Lawyer Antonio
Francesconi, who is representing them, said he had written to Grimaldi
telling them he was taking them to court and asking for £2,800
compensation. He said: 'I have not yet received a response. It is not a
question of discrimination but one of lost satisfaction because no-one
had told them their holiday was at the same time as the gay cruise.
'When they booked the cruise, directly with the company, no-one told
them it was also hosting the Revuelta event. They arrived at the port
and saw the ship surrounded by the media.' They thought it was because
someone famous was on board but it was in fact due to the event - the
1,500 passengers were all gay and there were numerous gay events during
the three days. 'My clients were also left embarrassed because among
the passengers were people they knew and had no idea that were gay,
which was uncomfortable for all parties.' Note:
There have been similar cases on mainstream cruise lines where large
groups charter part of a vessel and passengers arrive un prepared for
the lifestyle choice of the group. This speaks to the need for
passengers to do their research and be informed about the cruise they
book. |
Lawsuit |
| October 14 |
Carnival Glory
Carnival Cruise Lines |
The
Tribune (Nassau) reports eleven tourists from a cruise ship were on
a taxi cab tour of the Nassau's historic sites when their pleasant
visit turned to terror as they viewed the 66 steps. Two masked men
approached on foot. One threatened the group with a handgun while the
other stole cash and personal items from the visitors at around 11am.
It was the first robbery in the area this year according to
Superintendent Elsworth Moss, and taxi drivers say it happened because
there were no police officers securing the site as usual. A taxi driver
told The Tribune: "I am shocked it happened because usually the
Commissioner of Police has a police presence there." The taxi drivers
are very upset the robbery took place because their concern is the
damaging effect it will have after the group returned to the ship and
complained about it. "We don't like the fact that it will have such a
tremendous impact on tourism." Like many visitors to Nassau, the group
had been picked up from the port at Prince Charles Wharf downtown for a
taxi tour of Fort Charlotte, Fort Fincastle, the watertower and the
Queen's Staircase when they were robbed. For more info see a followup story in The Tribune. |
Robbery ashore |
| October 13 |
Brilliance of the Seas
Royal Caribbean
International |
From a passenger: We're onboard
the Brilliance of the Seas in Barcelona - we were due to depart tonight
at 7pm but due to the ship arriving late after a storm ( number of
windows in deck 3/4 broken ) - which can't be repaired until early
afternoon tomorrow we're confined to port - The ship is in touch with
Miami at the minute - we were due to be in Cannes tomorrow but its
cancelled !! UPDATE: We're due to sail around noon
-- crew worked throughout the night on the repairs - they have
pencilled Cannes in on one of our last sea days. According to
Cruisecritic poster 35 cabins were damaged. |
Delay - damage in storm |
| October 12 |
Saga Ruby
Saga Holidays |
The Daily
Mirror reports the ship hit a concrete bollard while berthing in
New York, and had to have emergency repairs to a hole in the bow before
setting off back to the UK. When the incident happened, a pilot was on
the bridge. The ship appeared to turn too fast into her own berth.
Captain Philip Rentell threw the engines into reverse, but it was too
late to avoid a collision. Saga issued a statement: "On Saturday at
07:43 hrs Saga Ruby was turning into Manhattan, west side, Pier 88
berth 1 and during the swing the stem touched the end of the pier shore
bollard. This was a light touch so customers would not have been aware
that the ship had touched the berth - so no injuries, just embarrassed
pilots ! "Clipping the bollard caused some minor damage to the stem
plate so we moved the ship to the Liberty Cruise terminal in Bayonne
for repair. Passengers have enjoyed the extra day In New York and we
plan to sail later today once the repair is inspected." Ruby's next
scheduled voyage is a 14-night cruise to the Canaries, currently
scheduled to leave Southampton on October 22. The itinerary will have
to change, but Saga are waiting to see whether she will be one or two
days late getting home before announcing changes. |
Collision with pier |
| October 10 |
Pacific Sun
P&O
Australia |
The
Courier Mail reports police boarded the ship when it docked in
Brisbane after they were notified of an alleged sexual assault while
the ship was cruising near Noumea last week. The alleged victim was
believed to be a juvenile. A police spokeswoman said allegedly involved
in the incident had been spoken to by officers, but no one had been
arrested or charged. She refused to say how many people were involved
in the incident, or where they were from. A spokeswoman for P&O
said when officials on the ship became aware of the allegations on
October 6, they immediately notified police. UPDATE October 18:The
New
Zealand Herald advises Kiwi
cruisegoers have been warned to watch their backs after an alleged
sexual assault on "New Zealand's favourite cruise ship". Detective
Sergeant Andy King, who heads Auckland's adult sexual assault team,
said cruise ship passengers needed to watch out for themselves. "The
same rules apply as if they were going out drinking. Look after each
other, take care of your drinks," he said. "Quite often cabins close by
make it more convenient for people to get into situations that might be
compromising. People should use their common sense. Where people are
socialising and drinking, issues will always arise." |
Sexual assault of minor |
| October 2 |
Queen Victoria
Cunard Line |
The Halifax
Chronicle reports the captain abrubtly ended a press conference
when asked, “How environmentally friendly is this vessel?" The
newspaper article says he literally went off the deep end.“I’m not even
going to go there. No," he snapped. He muttered a few more words and
walked off in a huff. A few metres away he turned and said with
disdain, “You should know better than that!" In a flash he was gone. No
explanation. No apology to the other media people taken off guard
by the response and obviously somewhat embarrassed. The obvious
question: what information did he not want to give? |
Environmental |
| October 2 |
Spirit of 98
Cruise West |
Oregon
Live Online reports the ship the lock at The Dalles Dam will remain
closed to Columbia River traffic at least through Saturday.
Consequently, the cruise ship has been stuck on the river since the
lock was closed Tuesday afternoon. Passengers on the Spirit of ’98
cruise ship, anchored near The Dalles, are “sleeping on board," said
Jerrol Golden, a spokeswoman for Cruise West, which operates the
multi-day cruise. "There's plenty of food." |
Itinerary change |
| September 30 |
Carnival Legend
Carnival Cruise Lines
Enchantment of the Seas
Royal Caribbean
International |
USA
Today reports thetwo ships collided in an incident that has left
both vessels damaged. Carnival says the 2,124-passenger Carnival Legend
had just untied from its berth at the popular Mexican resort town when
it was caught by heavy winds and pushed into the 2,446-passenger
Enchantment of the Seas. "Extremely strong winds pushed the vessel up
against the side of Royal Caribbean’s Enchantment of the Seas," the
line says in a statement to USA TODAY. "The (Royal Caribbean) ship was
at dock when the incident occurred. The Carnival Legend sustained
broken glass and other minor damage to some open deck areas." A Royal
Caribbean spokeswoman said the Enchantment suffered what appears to be
minor damage to the stern of the ship and some railings. Spokespeople
for both lines say they have received no reports of injuries on board
their respective ships resulting from the incident, which occurred at
about 6:15 pm central time. Both lines say the damage to the ships is
not serious and the vessels will proceed with their current
itineraries. The Enchantment of the Seas is on a five-night Caribbean
cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale. The Carnival Legend is on a seven-night
Caribbean cruise out of Tampa. NOTE: Click here
for two pictures of Enchantment of the Seas sent by a reader. |
Collision |
| September 30 |
Charaideo
Assam Bengal Navigation Company |
The Telegraph
India reports the luxury river boat got stuck on a sandbank near
Kharguli in Kamrup (metro) district. Though the Assam Bengal Navigation
Company, which runs the cruise, said it was not abnormal for ships to
get stuck on sandbanks, police had to rush to the spot late last night
to guard the foreigners. The ship, which was on its way to Orang
National Park, left for its destination this morning. Jahnabi Phookan,
an official of the company, said the tourists boarded the luxury ship
around 2pm from Pandu ghat for a four-night-five-day tour, including a
trip to the Orang Rajiv Gandhi National Park. The ship got stuck near
the Khurguli area after sailing for about half-an-hour. A police
official said they were informed about the incident around 10pm and by
the time a patrol party reached the ship in the middle of the
Brahmaputra, it was nearly 1.30am. “We found all the tourists safe and
comfortable inside their respective cabins. We kept guard all night,”
the police official said. |
Grounded |
| September 30 |
Kerala Tourist Development Corporation |
Outlook
India reports 31 persons died (subsequently revised upward to 39)
after a state-run double-deck boat carrying 74 tourists suddenly
capsized in the famous Thekkady Lake in Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary in
Idukki district. Three persons were still feared missing after the boat
pressed into service just one month back sank after cruising five km
from the boarding point in Thekkady from where it had set out around 4
PM. Forty persons were either rescued or swam to safety. According to
eyewitnesses, the tragedy occurred when the ill-fated boat
'Jalakanyaka' tilted after several tourists moved to one side on
sighting elephants in the Wildlife Sanctuary on the banks of the lake.
Rescue efforts were hampered as darkness fell and also due to the cold
waters. The boat was half submerged in the mishap. Also, no safety
measures like life jackets were in place in the ill-fated boat. |
Tour boat capsizes |
| September 28 |
Zuiderdam
Holland America Line |
KGW
News (Portland) reports a woman who passed out hot-tubbing on the
ship while passing through Tillamook Bay was evacuated and
hospitalized. Tillamook Bay’s Coast Guard personnel were called near 11
a.m. Sunday to evacuate the woman, who was found unconscious in a hot
tub. A lifeboat hauled the woman back to the Coast Guard station and
she was then transported to Tillamook County General Hospital. Her
condition was unknown. |
Unconscious in hot tub |
| September 28 |
Cruise Halong |
The BBC
reports five people drowned when a packed boat overturned in wild seas
off Vietnam. The vessel capsized carrying 25 passengers and seven crew
members. Survivors were treated in hospital for shock and hypothermia.
The incident happened in the Halong Bay area, which is popular for its
coral reefs and weathered limestone scenery. Reports said the boat was
hit by heavy winds as it was returning to port on Thursday night. Sunny
Bui, manager of Cruise Halong, which runs boat trips to Halong Bay,
said: "There was no warning. [Tour operators] usually hear of typhoons
and strong winds in the weather forecast, but this was a whirlwind that
only lasted for 15 or 20 minutes and nobody knew about it." |
Tour boat tragedy |
| September 27 |
Carnival Splendor
Carnival Cruise Lines |
From a passenger: Just came back
from Carnival cruise on Splendor to Mexico Sept 20 to 27. While in Cabo
san Lucas on Friday Sept 25, a storm came up and a person who was
parasailing in the bay was thrown into some buildings when a sudden
storm came up and the rope broke on the parasail.We were on the
shore and heard that the person had been a passenger on the
ship, and that the person had died of injuries, and another person with
them was injured after dropping into the bay. Nothing was said by any
personnel after we returned to the boat. Some people who witnessed it
were talking about it, but there was no information from the cruise
authorities. I have no idea if the person was on the Splendor or if it
was a rumor. All the tenders were suspended for about an hour, and the
ship moved toward Los Arcos and put her back to the wind when the
fiercest winds were blowing. When the storm was over the ship moved
back to her regular spot and the tenders resumed. |
Pax in parasailing accident |
| September 26 |
Costa Allegra
Costa Crociere |
It appears the ship's port call tomorrow at Manila has
been cancelled because of Ketsama. The ship is travelling out into the
sea to the west of the Philippines to cross the forecast track of
Ketsama in calm seas. As to whether the rest of her itinerary will be
affected remains to be seen. She is due into Kotakinabalu on Tuesday,
Bandar Seri Begawan on Wednesday & Singapore on Friday. A couple of
weeks ago the ship was hit by tropical storm Mujigae off Hainan Island
and had some internal damage- ceiling in casino came down and minor
damage elsewhere. |
Tropical storm |
| September 23 |
Sapphire
Princess
Princess Cruises |
Vancouver
Sun reports a search is underway for a 67-year-old American woman
who boarded the ship in Alaska on Sunday but never got off in Vancouver
when the ship docked at Canada Place on Wednesday morning. Crew members
checked the woman's cabin where they found all her belongings. Rescue
crews in three helicopters immediately started searching the waters
between Comox and Vancouver on Wednesday, while Vancouver police have
boarded the ship at Canada Place. It's not clear where the woman may
have gone overboard or how long the search will take. UPDATE:
Subsequent reports indicate the woman jumped overboard at 6:08 AM
Tuesday morning based on video surveillance equipment. The ship was
more than 200 miles south of Ketchikan. Earlier, the cruise line had
said she went overboard Monday evening around 6 p.m. near Ketchikan, in
southeast Alaska, and the Coast Guard had been searching in that area
for two days. |
Missing
Pax (suicide) |
| September 18 |
Aurora
P&O Cruises |
From a passenger: Aurora suffered
a loose starboard anchor during Atlantic crossing, night of Sept
3rd/4th, requiring ship to stop and haul it back up into its housing
and securing. On the same cruise, while leaving New York berth, Sept.
8th, no. 2 bow thruster burned out, causing loss of power with tugs
required to return ship to berth. Failed thruster was isolated by ships
staff (1 of 3). Lloyds assessor inspected and allowed ship to
continue to Newport RI, 5 hours late. During homeward voyage the final
port of St John's was missed due to high winds in the area south of
Newfoundland. Aurora encountered force 12 winds for a time. Note:
4 of 17 planned port calls to St. John's, Newfoundland have been
cancelled this year, ostensibly because of weather conditions (Eurodam
August 22, Auror September 18, Crown Princess September 20, Norwegian
Jewel September 26).
|
Mechanical problems - missed port |
| September 16 |
Queen Victoria
Cunard Line |
The Gibraltar
Chronicle reports some passengers were not amused yesterday when
they found they had not docked as expected. Instead, the Independence
of the Seas had docked. One Yorkshireman aboard called the
Chronicle from his mobile and pointed to the fact that some elderly and
disabled passengers were not able to come on shore aboard the tenders,
especially with choppy seas. A spokesman for MH Bland, the agents,
however, said that the ship had been given the option to dock alongside
an inside section of the quay but had decided against this. |
Changed berthing |
| September 9 |
Balmoral
Fred
Olsen Cruises |
STV
reports seventy-two passengers have been struck down by an
outbreak of norovirus. The Balmoral is currently anchored off Portree,
Skye – with severe gales preventing it from berthing in the harbour.
The liner departed Invergordon on Monday night with a reported 18 cases
of the bug among its 1,280 passengers and 516 crew. Fred. Olsen Cruise
Lines have confirmed that those affected with the virus have been
confined to their cabins. The Press
and Journal puts the number of ill passengers at 78; other sources
indicate 2 crew members have reported ill. UPDATE September 14:
TTGLive
reports the current cruise arrived in Dover a day early so the ship
could undergo deep cleaning in advance of the next cruise - a 12 day
cruise of the Baltic. The number of passengers ill is reported to have
been about 100. |
Norovirus |
| September 8 |
Carnival Victory
Carnival Cruise Lines |
Stabroek
News reports six US passengers fwere detained by police in Antigua
following an altercation with a taxi driver during the ship’s visit on
Friday (September 4).The passengers were released today on bail pending
a court hearing on Wednesday. The dispute arose when the passengers
refused to pay the fare for a taxi tour because they felt they were
being overcharged.The driver then took the group to a police station
where a scuffle led to the alleged injury of two officers. The
passengers face charges of malicious damage, assault and injuring the
officers. |
Pax arrested ashore |
| September 4 |
Carnival Triumph
Carnival Cruise Lines |
The Chronicle Herald
(Halifax) reports an Indonesian crewman faces charges after customs
officers allegedly found images of child pornography on his computer.
Hendri Dharmawan, 29, an employee on the Carnival Triumph, was arrested
Tuesday while the ship was docked at Pier 22 on the Halifax waterfront.
He was arraigned in Halifax provincial court Wednesday on a Customs Act
charge of smuggling child pornography into the country. On Friday,
investigators added a Criminal Code charge of possession of child
pornography. UPDATE - October 9: The Chronical Herald
reports the crewman is awaiting sentencing/ The newspaper article says:
Officers with the Canada Border Services Agency conducted a
routine search of Mr. Dharmawan as he and a couple of other crew
members were going back on board the ship at Pier 22. After finding
child pornography on Mr. Dharmawan’s iPhone, the border agents went to
his living quarters on the ship and examined his laptop computer and an
external hard drive. Altogether, officers found eight videos of child
pornography on Mr. Dharmawan’s devices. The 135 minutes of footage
depicted girls as young as eight and boys as young as 10 being abused. |
Child pornography arrest |
| September 4 |
Freedom of the Seas
Royal Caribbean
Internationa |
PorEsto!
(Cozumel) reports a 50-year old male passenger from Freedom of the
Seas died after falling overboard from the vessle Island
Shuttle as it docked at Cozumel. The ship was maneuvering to dock
at the pier when the passenger was thrown overboard and was sucked into
the engine foce, severing several body parts. |
Death while ashore |
| September 3 |
Costa
Crociere |
According to US Department of Transportation Order
2009-9-3, the crusie line was fined $35,000 and odered to cease and
desist from advertising that failed to state the entire price to be
paid be a passenger for certain air transportation. |
Fine for Deceptive Adverstising |
| September 3 |
Explorer of
the Seas
Royal Caribbean
International |
The Royal
Gazette reports dozens of tourists were stranded in St. George's
with their cruise ship leaving in mere hours after a ferry encountered
technical problems. According to a statement from the Department of
Marine and Ports, on Monday the 1 p.m. ferry scheduled to travel from
St. Georges to Dockyard encountered a "mechanical problem," forcing it
to return to the depot. Many tourists were reportedly concerned that
they would not be able to return to the Explorer of the Seas,
which was in port in Dockyard and scheduled to leave the Island at 5
p.m. A spokesperson for the department said yesterday: "The 3 p.m.
ferry operated as regularly scheduled and all passengers were able to
board and were transported to the Explorer of the Seas. There
were no passengers left behind." While the Department of Marine and
Ports say that the vehicles are still getting serviced on a regular
schedule, at least one ferry-goer said that the ferries, some of which
have been active since the spring of 2002, are looking worse every day.
"The problems have been there a long time, and it's been getting
progressively worse," said the businessman, who asked not to be
identified. "More than one third of the seats are in need of repair. On
one of the ferries both of the toilets are out of order and more than
one of the ferries belches black smoke when the engines are revved."
While locals often take to the lower level, which is better maintained,
visitors more commonly take to the upper deck, which is more affected
by the issues." |
Ferry troubles in Bermuda |
| September 3 |
Sensation
Carnival Cruise Lines |
WPTV
West Pam Beach reports a 34-year old male pasenger who went
overboard has been rescued overnight by a nearby Disney cruise vessel.
A mayday emergency signal was issued at about 11:30 PM. last night,
asking for help from any boat or ship that could help try and locate
the missing passenger. The Disney Wonder located the man at
about 12:40 AM. The U.S. Coast Guard says the rescue took place
approximately 28 nautical milies (32.4 miles) off the Port St. Lucie
shoreline. Both cruise vessels were on journeys between Port Canaveral
and The Bahamas. It is unclear if the passenger was injured and
required any immediate medical attention. It is also unknown how the
man went off the Carnival ship. The Sun
Sentinel subsequently reports the jumper could be heard arguing
with a woman on the final night of the cruise. "He threatened to jump,
and she said, 'Go ahead,' and he did," said a fellow passenger. "Then
we heard the man screaming, 'Help! Help!'" The Coast Guard sent out a
helicopter and two boats, and the Sensation launched its own
search. But it's attempts made little headway. According to passengers,
the crew launched a rescue boat, but its sailors forgot to untie it
from the cruise ship; the rescue boat tipped, filled with water, and
never joined the search. A second rescue boat never launched, despite
complaints of passengers. The ship's search lights were weak and crew
members aimed flashlights at the water. For over an hour he was
screaming for help and passengers shouted at him to hold on. |
Passenger overboard - rescued |
| September 3 |
Carnival Freedom
Carnival Cruise Lines |
The St.
Petersburg Times reports on a passenger and his family wgo were
forced to sign a "ban for life" on Carnival ships because of small
scrapeson a dresser in their cabin. The ban was lifted after the
passenger, an executive of an online travel insurance business,
described the incident on his company's website which led to inquiries
from the newspaper. According to the article, the passenger was forced
to sign a letter stating that he had violated ship rules, interfered
with the safety and/or enjoyment of other passengers or caused harm to
Carnival. The morning the passenger had left their cabin and were
waiting to leave the ship, they were summoned by crew members who
pointed out the scratches and suggested someone used the edge of the
dresser to open a beer bottle left in the room. Back home, the
passenger found photos dated on the first and third day of the cruise
that showed his son next to the dresser, the scratches clearly visible,
belying the cruise line's contention that they had caused the damage on
the last day of the cruise. On his company's website the passenger
wrote, "When you get in the room, treat it like a rental car — take a
few photos first. It seems like you shouldn't need to, but our
experience says otherwise." Also see
here for more information. |
Ban for life lifted |
| September 1 |
Ryndam
Holland America Line |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in July. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on July 21 and for the monthly average exceeded the allowable level of fecal coliform bacteria. |
Environmental |
| September 1 |
Norwegian Pearl
Norwegian
Cruise Line |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in July. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on July 7 exceeded the allowable level of fecal coliform bacteria and on July 28 exceeded the allowable level of pH. |
Environmental |
| September 1 |
Diamond Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in July. On July 29, the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. |
Environmental |
| September 1 |
Island Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in July. On July 9, the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. |
Environmental |
| September 1 |
Pacific Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in July. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on July 6 and July 20 exceeded the allowable level of copper. |
Environmental |
| September 1 |
Sapphire Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in July. There were three violations. The ship's effluent on July 13, July 14, and July 28 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. |
Environmental |
| September 1 |
Sea Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in July. On July 27, the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. |
Environmental |
| September 1 |
Silver Shadow
Silversea Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in July. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on July 2 and July 24 exceeded the allowable level of copper. |
Environmental |
| September 1 |
Prinsendam
Holland America Line |
Hurricanes and tropical storms have, in the past two
weeks,caused changes of intineraries in the Caribbean, Atlantic Canada,
and the Mexican Riviera. Now, as reported by BBC,
the Prinsendam was prevented from stopping at Greencastle in
Donegal because the captain felt it was too rough to disembark. The
Harbourmaster at Londonderry Port said the ship had arrived too late
for the tide. "You've got to have all the tidal conditions right for a
vessel that size to get in. She's just at the limit of what we can do
up in Lisahally. The ship travelled from Liverpool to near Derry as
part of the 14-day itinerary of the Gaelic Legend cruise. |
Weather-effect itinerary change |
| August 31 |
Freedom of
the Seas
Royal Caribbean
International |
A reader sent me a copy of a letter they sent to RCI
regarding a pocket knife (measuring less than 3 inches) he had
confiscated at embarkation, despite it being within limits stated in
pre-boarding information. He points out the inconsistency between
having 6-inch serrateed steak knives in the dining room and yet
confiscating a dull pocket knife. Whether you agree with the passenger
or with the cruise line, the letter gives some interesting insights and
points to some security issues. RCI's response to the letter did not
adequately address his concerns. Click here for a
copy of the letter. |
Safety and security |
| August 28 |
Norwegian Sky
Norwegian
Cruise Line |
According to CBS-TV
in Miami NCL has issued a statement that a passenger on the ship and
his wife were walking on rocks by the shore on Great Stirrup Cay in a
remote part of the island when he fell into the water yesterday.
Following an extensive search, the man's body was recovered this
morning. The ship's four-day Bahamas cruise departed Miami on August
24th and returned to Miami today. |
Pax dies on private island |
| August 26 |
Seven Seas Navigator
Regent
Seven
Seas Cruises |
Cruise
Critic reports cruises have been canceled between November 8 and
December 18 because the ship has been forced to reschedule dry docking
originally scheduled for January 2010. Instead of being dry docked in
South Carolina, the work will be done in Germany, thus requiring two
transatlantic trips without passengers. |
Cancelations |
| August 26 |
Ecstasy
Carnival Cruise Lines |
WPTV
(Florida) reports a couple with the grandchildren were involuntarily
left in Cayman Islands on the second day of the cruise after the ship's
physician refused their return from shore because of a health condition
of the grandmother. A physician at a Cayman hospital said she'd have to
spend up to a month in hospital; her physician at home wrote demanding
her release because she was fine. The family lost what they paid for
the cruise and had to pay their opwn way home from Cayman. |
Family expelled from ship |
| August 25 |
Antarctic Dream |
SvalbardPosten (Norway) reports the ship, while coming
alongside the quay in Longyearbyen this morning, collided with the
smaller passenger vessel Langøysund. No persons were
injured. While the crane operating the MOB boat on Langøysund
was damaged, there were only minor signs on Antarctic Dream
after the collision. According to Antarctic Dream’s captain
the engine did not respond as it should when he tried to go astern. The
Norwegian Maritime authorities are in Longyearbyen and will consider
the damage on the vessels. They are unable to say whether Antarctic
Dream can sail from Longyearbyen as planned at 1700 this
afternoon, but most likely they will. Langøysund’s
trip (daytrip) was cancelled today. |
Collision |
| August 24 |
Costa Classica
Costa Crociere |
Shanghai
Daily reports four Chinese tourists suffered cash thefts on the
high seas - and there is little, if anything, they can do about it. As
the crimes happened on a cruise ship, they come under international
public law, a notorious legal minefield. One victim phoned Shanghai
marine police early on Saturday as soon as the ship docked at Shanghai
to end a week-long tour from China to Japan and South Korea. One
passenger had US$700 and 10,000 yen (US$106) stolen from their cabin
safe. He was the first victim to alert the ship's management and soon
after two Beijing tourists and another from southern Guangdong Province
also reported losses of cash. One Beijing tourist said US$300 was
missing from his safe, while the others lost about 2,000 yuan (US$293)
in cash from wallets left behind on their beds. The victims suspected a
middle-aged Filipino, the cleaner of all four rooms hit by the thefts.
Ship officials searched the man and his cabin but told the tourists
they only found a small amount of cash. Shanghai marine police spent
nearly four hours completing Customs steps before they were able to
board the vessel about noon on Saturday. Not surprisingly, the marine
police found inquiries difficult as the ship, packed with new tourists,
set off on Saturday afternoon on a new cruise. NOTE: Carnival
Cruise Lines reported to the FBI 76 onboard thefts between October 1,
2007 and September 30, 2008. About 75% of the thefts were involved
passenger property taken from their in-room safe or from their cabin. |
Thefts |
| August 22 |
Princess Sophie |
Novinite
(Sofia News Agency) reports more than 150 passengers and crew have been
safely rescued from a burning cruise ship near Novi Sad, Serbia.
Bulgarian River Shipping Jsc said sailors on the Bulgarian vessel Nayden
Kirov helped evacuate passengers from the river cruise ship that
caught fire Friday night on the Danube River. The cruise vessel was
anchored on the Serbian side of the Danube River when the fire began.
The cause of the blaze was not reported. The sailors-turned-rescuers
also helped Serbian firefighters extinguish the blaze as the Bulgarian
vessel had to be used as a firefighting platform. No injuries were
reported, but the rescued passengers reportedly received assistance
from ambulance workers. |
Fire |
| August 18 |
Zenith
Pullmantur Cruises |
The
Local (Sweden) reports all passengers were evacuated (two crew
members were sent to hospital for smoke inhalation) when the ship had a
major fire while docked at Stockholm. The newspaper reports some
passengers jumped into the water from the ship. It is not known where
the fire began (other than in the stern of the vessel) or the full
extent of damages - one report says the fire was caused by a welding
torch. There was considerable smoke coming from the ship even after the
fire was extinguished. UPDATE: The ship sailed at
5:30 AM on August 19th (it had been scheduled to leave yesterday
evening). One crewman was released from hospital this morning, and the
other is expected to be released later today. The fire had been sparked
by welding on a lower deck. Apart from smoke, there was no damage to
the ship. UPDATE: Swedish morning newspaper Dagens
Nyheter confirmed that the fire was started by two welders doing work
at the front end of a lower deck. The two men unsuccessfully tried to
bring the fire under control themselves and ended up going to the
hospital for smoke inhalation. |
Fire |
| August 14 |
Sea Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in June. On June 17, the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. |
Environmental |
| August 14 |
Sapphire Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in June. There were six violations. The ship's effluent on June 2, June 16, and June 30 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. On June 2 and June 30, it's effluent exceeded the allowable level of copper. And on June 2 its effluent exceeded the allowable level of nickel. |
Environmental |
| August 14 |
Island Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in June. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on June 11 and June 25 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. |
Environmental |
| August 14 |
Golden Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in June. On June 1, the ship's effluent exceeded the allowable level of zinc. |
Environmental |
| August 14 |
Diamond Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The ship was cited for violating Alaska Wastewater Quality Standards in June. There were two violations. The ship's effluent on June 3 and June 17 exceeded the allowable level of ammonia. |
Environmental |
| August 13 |
Coral Princess
Princess
Cruises |
According to a passenger, four people were ejected from
the ship in Juneau for smoking pot onboard. The ship was held for many
hours up to midnight while C.B.P. and state troppers searched the ship.
The passengers reportedly were in rooms 9216 and 9218. |
Drug bust - delayed departure |
| August 13 |
Aida Vita
Aida Cruises |
Kathimerini
(Greece) reports a 29-year-old German woman who is a member of the crew
was in stable condition at the Metropolitan Hospital in Athens after
contracting swine flu. |
Swine flu |
| August 12 |
Navigator of
the Seas
Royal Caribbean
International |
Kathimerini
(Greece) reports that six people on board the ship, which docked in
Piraeus, have been confined to their cabins after testing positive for
swine flu. Three are crew members and the other three passengers. |
Swine flu |
| August 11 |
Marco Polo
Transocean Cruises |
The Scotsman
reports another passenger has been struck down by norovirus. Hilary
Brown became ill on a trip on board the Marco Polo, which last month
had to cut short a round-Britain voyage when holidaymakers and crew
were hit by the norovirus, also known as the winter vomiting bug. She
boarded the ship less than a week after the vessel's visit outbreak in
July. She said she and her husband were assured that the vessel was
safe to travel on for a 12-day trip around the British Isles. However
she suffered a severe stomach bug and needed injections and was on an
intravenous drip as part of her treatment. She said: "I was worried
about the reports of illness I had seen on the news so I took the
precaution of calling the people I had booked with. I was told that
everything was fine and that the Marco Polo would be the 'cleanest ship
around'. I also checked with one of the members of crew as I boarded
the vessel and was again told that everything was fine. "But then I
began to suffer from symptoms of diarrhoea, stomach pain and vomiting
and was given tablets to treat the diarrhoea. I also had to have
injections and was placed on a drip. I had no energy and this really
spoilt the holiday." |
Illness |
| August 11 |
Festival
Caspi Cruises |
YNetNews
reports a group of Israeli tourists got into a squabble with some 20
locals while on the Greeks island of Rhodes. According to initial
information, three Israelis touring the island apparently came across a
group of 20 locals, believed to be of Greek or Arab origin. An
altercation soon followed, and the locals reportedly mugged the
Israelis. The three then returned to the ship they came aboard,
gathered some of their friends and returned to the scene of the fight.
They quickly located the locals who mugged them, started fighting with
them again, and were able to reclaim some of their property. They then
boarded the ship once more and left the island, en route to the Isle of
Marmaris. |
Pax mugged ashore |
| August 6 |
Aqua
Aqua Expeditions |
The
Telegraph (UK) reports nine armed bandits bound the hands and feet
of the 20 passengers on a small cruiser heading up the Ucayali River in
the Peruvian Amazon to the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve. The men
boarded the vessel from a small speedboat at around 7am on Tuesday near
a hamlet called Yucuruchi, close to the confluence of the
Marañón, Ucayali and Amazon rivers. They took advantage
of heavy rain and poor visibility to stage their raid. They are
reported to have overcome two police officers guarding the ship after a
similar attack nine days earlier before getting the holidaymakers out
of their beds and forcing them to hand over their valuables at
gunpoint. One of the officers received first aid for head injuries but
the tourists were unharmed. Police reinforcements arrived after crew
radioed for help. The robbers fled with cameras, cash, jewellery and
designer clothes amid a shoot-out with police. Officers later recovered
some of the holidaymakers' belongings after discovering them in the
gang's jungle base camp, where they also confiscated guns and
walkie-talkies the armed gang are believed to have used to coordinate
their well-planned attack. Security in the area was stepped up in the
aftermath of the raid, the second of its kind in the last fortnight. |
Robbery |
| August 6 |
Princess Ashika
Shipping Corporation of
Polynesia |
eTurboNews
reports two bodies have been recovered and 46 people remain missing
after a ferry sank last night in waters off Tonga. The ferry sank in
waters north of the main island of Tongatapu last night. A passenger
said the sea was rough and the waves went into the lower deck of the
ferry where the crew were. The ferry rocked and he believed this caused
the cargo to move to one side. The ferry then began to overturn and
some passengers jumped off. The ferry was heading from Nuku'alofa to
Ha'afeva, in the Nomuka Islands group, when it issued a mayday call
just before 11pm. The first rescue boats to reach the scene pulled 42
people from liferafts - 17 passengers and 25 crew, including the
captain. Another 11 were subsequently found safe and well this morning.
Safety
at Sea International reports hopes are fading today that up to 33
passengers will be found alive from the sinking of an inter-island
ferry last night off Tonga in the South Pacific. Local authorities now
believe the 1972-built Princess Ashika had up to 100 people aboard when
it foundered 85km northeast of the Tongan capital of Nuku-alofa at
about 2300 local time last night. Women and children were said to be
sleeping when waves struck the ferry. A survivor told reporters in
Tonga that seven of eight life rafts were filled with men, while a
ninth drifted away empty. Many of the missing were believed to be women
and children. Rescuers saved 53 people, and two bodies have been
recovered. The ship, built as Olive Maru No 1, began its temporary
Tongan deployment on 4 July, replacing Polynesia Shipping’s Olovaha
(955gt and built in 1981). The accident is the second South Pacific
ferry disaster in just a few weeks; a vessel sank near Kiribati last
month with the loss of 33 lives. |
Sank |
| August 3 |
Zaandam
Holland America Line |
Anchorage
Daily News reports a 45-year-old woman has gone missing, presumed
overboard, between Douglas Island and Glacier Bay National Park. The
last known sighting of the woman was about 12:30 a.m., when she ordered
room service while the ship was near Douglas Island. She was reported
missing by a friend about 9 a.m., after the ship was already in the
park. In a statement released Monday, Holland America said the ship's
crew conducted a thorough search and was unable to find the woman,
whose family has been notified of her disappearance. The ship sailed
from Seattle Friday bound for Alaska on a seven-day cruise and departed
Juneau bound for Glacier Bay on Sunday. The Coast Guard deployed an
MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Sitka and diverted the patrol boats Long
Island and Liberty and launched two rescue boats from Station Juneau.
The Civil Air Patrol is also assisting the search with two aircraft and
the park service is combing the shoreline with multiple vessels, the
Coast Guard said. They are focusing their search on Stephens Passage,
Lynn Canal and Icy Strait. The water temperature in the area is about
57 degrees. UPDATE: About 4:30 p.m. a helicopter
found a body washed up on the west side of Douglas Island. The tide had
apparently carried the body to shore and left it high on the beach as
it receded. The body was taken to Juneau to be positively identified. |
Pax Overboard |
| August 1 |
Crown Princess
Princess
Cruises |
A passenger posted the following at Cruise
Critic: Just disembarked the Crown Princess British Isles
cruise yesterday morning, and there were a couple of instances of
idiots being idiots. There were quite a few really, really rude people
onboard but that wasn't the worst. As we were waiting to disembark, we
learned that some idiot threw a glass at the pilot boat in one of the
ports. Someone reported it and after reviewing the security tapes, the
people were put off at the next port (which must have been either
Ireland or France); because of the seriousness of this, the UK barred
them from entering so they couldn't use their air tickets from Heathrow
so they had to pay for all new airfare to get home. Also, during the
last night before disembarkation, the elevators were vandalized and
rendered unusable. They got one working among the aft elevators and a
couple mid-ship (I don't know about the forward elevators) but it was
chaos with only one working elevator in the aft of the ship with people
trying to get up to the buffet or down to disembark. I was told that
the security cameras would be reviewed and the culprits identified. I
hope they throw the book at them. IMHO, this is a criminal act since it
affected the safety of everyone on the ship, particularly those with
limited mobility. |
Pax evicted / vandalism to elevators |
| July 31 |
Jewel of the Seas
Royal Caribbean
International |
The
Independent reports an American school teacher cruising with his
family was ejected from the ship. His compulsory expulsion came after
he produced and distributed a one-page flier to fellow passengers at
one of the champagne-fuelled art auction after he did an internet
search of allegations made against Park West Galleries, which is facing
a number of lawsuits accusing it of selling over-priced or fake prints
on cruise ships for more than a decade. As a result, the passenger was
told that he had broken RCCL’s guest conduct policy and would be
ejected when it docked in Oslo July 26th. The dispute, which the
passenger insists amounts to a breach of his right to freedom of
expression, left him with a £450 ($750) bill for a hotel and air
tickets back to London, where he was reunited with his wife and two
children and his elderly parents, who had stayed on board to avoid the
cost of extra flights. He told The Independent yesterday: "What
happened to me was outrageous. All I did was distribute information. I
overheard the claims being made for the art on sale at this auction and
was curious about the company behind it." After a search on Google on
my laptop I found the details of the various lawsuits and media reports
that there have been about this company. I felt that people attending
these auctions had a right to know that there were these claims just so
they could make up their own minds. I went out of my way to say these
were just allegations. "Royal Caribbean obviously took a different
view. I was shocked that because we were in international waters, they
were able summarily inform me I had to leave the ship. One minute I was
playing table tennis with my son, the next I was being escorted away by
the Oslo police." The passenger, who said he only became aware of the
claims against Park West after boarding the ship, printed off 50 copies
of his leaflet before distributing it to passengers shortly before one
of the auctions began. Two hours later he was called to the ship’s
administration offices and told complaints had been made against him by
passengers concerning the flyer. |
Passenger ejected |
| July 31 |
Voyager of
the Seas
Royal Caribbean
International |
Reuters
reports there are dozens of victims of swine flu among the 5,000
passengers and crew docked in France Friday on its way from the Italian
port city of Naples to Marseille. Sixty crew members were diagnosed
with the H1N1 virus, and 70 more crew members showed signs of the
disease. People infected with swine flu are being treated and will stay
on board the ship, which docked at Villefranche in southern France
Friday morning and will resume its journey Friday evening. All other
crew members will also stay on board, though the passengers -- 3,600
people -- will be allowed to go on land during the day. UPDATE:
Press
Association reports the crew members and two passengers who were
suspected of having swine flu have tested negative for the virus. RCCL
said 62 crew members and two passengers on the ship were immediately
isolated after coming down with cold and flu-like symptoms. It said:
"All crew members and the guests with symptoms tested negative for
Influenza A but will remain in isolation until they are symptom free."
The information contradicted comments by Alpes-Maritime regional
spokeswoman Geraldine Soulier, who said about 60 crew members had been
diagnosed with swine flu and confined to their cabins while the ship
was in the French port of Villefranche-sur-Mer. She said 70 others were
also suspected of having the illness and isolated. Ms Soulier said
regional authorities had been informed of the diagnosis by Spain's
health authorities. The 60 had been diagnosed with the A-H1N1 virus
upon boarding the ship in Barcelona, Spain, on July 26 and immediately
placed in isolation. She said she had no information to indicate that
the Spanish authorities' diagnosis was incorrect. UPDATE
August 1: AFP
(France) reports when the ship arrived in Mraseille at 7:00 AM
local authorities initially barred passengers from going ashore, but
after a team of medics carried out an enquiry on board, the majority of
passengers were given permission to disembark. Local official Philip
Ramon said authorisation to go ashore had been given because the risk
was deemed "extremely marginal." Only one passenger, whose nationality
was not given, was confirmed to have had swine flu and had now fully
recovered, he said. About 150 people remained on board in isolation, he
added. These included 62 members of the crew, who had presented
symptoms of A(H1N1) flu, and another 60 people who had been in contact
with them, five passengers and around 15 other passengers who had been
in contact with them. |
Swine flu |
| July 30 |
Oceanic
Peace Boat |
Canadian media (here
and here)
reports the ship spilled fuel in Vancouver Harbour -- fuel was found
blanketing the water around Canada Place in Vancouver's Burrard Inlet.
The oil slick was reported Thursday around 5:00 a.m., but harbour
master Yoss Leclerc said crews are still working to determine the
severity of the spill. "We are in the middle of a rising tide," Leclerc
said. "But we are trying to find the dimension of the slick and what
kind of product we are dealing with." The ship has taken responsibility
for the spill, according to the Vancouver Coast Guard. Port staff, with
the help of coast guard and Transport Canada workers, began cleanup
operations. Early indication is that the spill is not bunker oil, but
light fuel oil, and that no animals have been harmed. |
Environmental |
| July 28 |
Aqua
Aqua Expeditions |
eTurbo
News reports the riverboat was raided by armed bandits yesterday.
Six bandits boarded the ship and robbed the 24 passengers of money and
other valuable objects. No one was hurt during the incident. The ship
had departed from Iquitos, Peru, on July 25 for a seven-night cruise on
the Amazon River. The ship was scheduled to arrive in Nauta on Monday,
and from there guests would be transferred back to Iquitos. |
Robbery |
| July 27 |
Volendam
Holland
America Line |
The Juneau
Empire reports the ship violated Alaska Wastewater Quality
Standards in May. There were three violations. The ship's effluent on
May 18 had 4800 fecal coliforms per 100 milliliters, while the limit is
43 in any one day. It had a monthly average for fecal coliform of
4800/100ml (effluent limit is 14/100ml) and was also cited for exceding
the allowable level of biological oxygen demand (44.1 mg/L (effluent
limit is 30 mg/L). |
Environmental |
| July 27 |
Golden Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The Juneau
Empire reports the ship twice violated Alaska Wastewater Quality
Standards for zinc in May 2009. On May 11th the concentration of zinc
was 0.250 mg/L (effluent limit is 0.23 mg/L); on May 18th the
concentration of zinc was 0.290 mg/L. |
Environmental |
| July 27 |
Sea Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The Juneau
Empire reports the ship violated Alaska Wastewater Quality
Standards for ammonia in May 2009. On May 27th the concentration of
ammonia was 99 mg/L (effluent limit is 80.4 mg/L). |
Environmental |
| July 27 |
Sapphire Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The Juneau
Empire reports the ship twice violated Alaska Wastewater Quality
Standards for ammonia in May 2009. On May 19th the concentration of
ammonia was 99 mg/L (effluent limit is 80.4 mg/L), May 27th it was 120
mg/L. In addition, on May 19th as a result of a hose leak that resulted
in 50 gallons of untreated graywater being released at dock, the ship
was cited for one violation of pH, one violation of Biological oxygen
demand, one violation of allowable total suspended solids, and one
violation of allowable fecal coliform. |
Environmental |
| July 27 |
Island Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The Juneau
Empire reports the ship violated Alaska Wastewater Quality
Standards for ammonia three times in May 2009. On May 14th the
concentration of ammonia was 130 mg/L (effluent limit is 80.4 mg/L),
May 27th it was 120 mg/L, and May 28th it was 160 mg/L. |
Environmental |
| July 27 |
Coral Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The Juneau
Empire reports the ship violated Alaska Wastewater Quality
Standards for ammonia in May 2009. On May 21 the concentration of
ammonia was 91 mg/L (effluent limit is 80.4 mg/L). |
Environmental |
| July 26 |
Ruby Princess
Princess Cruises |
The Daily
Mail reports the ship was briefly impounded by Italian authorities
when it arrived today in Venice. Two additional people (passengers)
have now been reported with swine flu. An official with the Maritime
Health Agency in Venice said that three passengers, an American, a
Mexican and a German had been confirmed while the other four were crew.
He added that the Mexican and German would be taken off and treated
ashore, while the American and the crew members were making good
progress and would be allowed to remain on the ship -- about an hour delay. The ship is in Venice until
Tuesday (July 28) when it leaves for Dubrovnik. (See July 24th
below for more information.) |
Impounded briefly |
| July 26 |
Blue Water Princess
Blue Magic Ferries |
News
24 (Philippines) reports twelve homemade bombs were found just
before the ship left port with more than 300 passengers. The explosives
were found in a trash can on the second deck in the port of Lucena
City, 120 kilometres south-east of Manila. The bombs - 12 bottles
attached to electrical wirings and packed with nails and scrap metal -
were hidden in a jute sack placed in the trash can. Bomb-sniffing dogs
found the explosives while inspecting the ferry before its departure.
Bomb experts removed the bombs and defused them. (The ship previously
sunk - see July 12, 2007) |
Bombs onboard |
| July 25 |
Sapphire
Princess
Princess Cruises |
Vancouver
Sun reports the ship arrived on its return from the Alaska run with
a female whale firmly wedged in the bulbous bow. Lisa Spaven, a
coordinator for the B.C. Marine Mammal Response Network, said it
appears to be about a fin whale, a threatened species in Canada. Spaven
estimated the whale is about 70 feet long. The whale's fin and part of
its back is protruding from the water and tourists are snapping photos.
According to information Spaven obtained she said the ship's captain
wasn't aware of the whale until the ship docked at Canada Place. She
believes in all likelihood the whale was struck north of Vancouver
Island since fin whales are not normally found in Johnstone or Georgia
Strait. This is the second time in the last 10 years that a cruise
vessel has come into the Port of Vancouver with a whale caught on the
bow. In that instance, in June of 1999, the Celebrity Cruise vessel MV
Galaxy collided with an adult male fin whale, which likely happened as
the ship transited the Hecate Strait north of Vancouver Island.
However, there are many more whale strikes on Alaska-bound cruise
ships, as well as cruise ships in other parts of the world (for
example, see January 31, 2009 below). NOTE: In
January 2007, Princess Cruises agreed to a plea bargain under which it
payed a fine of $200,000 and restitution of $550,000 after criminal
charges were filed -- the company was charged with failing to operate
at a slow, safe speed while near humpback whales when in 2001 the Dawn
Princess hit and killed a humpback. UPDATE: A
necropsy determined the whale had been dead for up to a week before it
was struck by the cruise ship. |
Whale strike |
| July 25 |
Unnamed German Cruise Ship |
GR
Reporter (News from Greece) reports panic spread among the
authorities in Greece when announcement came in, that a German luxury
cruise line with 4500 people on board sailed away from Turkey to Pieria
with three people on board, infected with the H1N1 virus. Only three
doctors are working in Pieria port, who would not be able to manage
treating possible patients. (The ship is likely operated by Aida
Cruises) |
Swine flu |
| July 24 |
Ruby Princess
Princess Cruises |
Earth
Times reports five people (one passenger and four crew) discovered
with swine flu aboard the ship have been put in quarantine by oficials
in Athens. "We have advised the four crew and passenger to remain in
their cabins and to not disembark," said Health Ministry official
Panagiotis Efstathiou, adding that all the other passengers have been
allowed to leave the vessel. The captain had asked the Greek government
to inspect the ship as soon as it arrived in the port of Piraeus from
neighboring Turkey. The Ruby Princess is scheduled to leave for Venice,
Italy on Friday evening. |
Swine flu |
| July 23 |
Avalon Tranquility
Avalon
Waterways |
Nachrichten
reports the riverboat collided with the tall ship Schoenbrunn, a
1912-built paddlesteamer, while it was maneuvering in Linz on the
Danube River in Austria. Damage to the Schoenbrunn was extensive -- it
will be out of service for up to 12 months; damage to the riverboat was
minimal. |
Colllision |
| July 23 |
M/S Gotland
HSC Gotlandia 2
Destination Gotland AB |
Safety
at Sea International reports the officers of two Swedish ferries
that collided today near Stockholm harbour in thick fog are to be
interviewed by police. The ships collided about 1100 local time.
Rescuers said at least 12 people were injured, with five of them sent
to a hospital; 1,338 passengers and 76 crew were aboard the larger M/S
Gotland, which had a 30cm hole in its hull, according to passengers.
The smaller HSC Gotlandia 2, with 532 passengers and 19 crew onboard,
was reported seriously damaged, including a huge hole torn at the
height of the passenger seating area. The vessel has been declared
operationally safe and will be sent to a repair yard. A passenger
aboard M/S Gotland told the newspaper: "The whole boat shuddered and we
started swinging back and forth." Passengers on the smaller ferry
reported a huge bang, quickly followed by sirens, then a din of falling
and crushing structures all around them. A police officer said its
starboard side was completely smashed. Reports from passengers on the
smaller ferry indicated that it had been trying to avoid another large
ship emerging from Nynäshamn in thick fog, which caused it to veer
into the path of the oncoming M/S Gotland. See also The Local (Sweden's
News in English). |
Colllision |
| July 23 |
Thomson Spirit
Thomson Cruises |
The Journal (UK)
reports hundreds of passengers were afflicted with norovirus on a
cruise in early May. A couple onboard are launching legal action after
their holiday descended into chaos when the vomiting bug swept through
the ship. Passengers had their boarding cards cancelled in a bid to
contain the outbreak during the cruise in May. According to a
passenger, “Hundreds of people were affected – the medical centre was
inundated with people queuing for medical supplies and a large number
of people were also confined to their cabins. It was absolutely
horrendous. There was certainly a breakdown in hygiene standards. The
ship in general was not clean, hot food at the buffet was cold, there
were flies all over the food, toilets were not cleaned – the list was
endless.”
|
Illness |
| July
22 |
Queen Mary 2
Cunard Line |
Cruising
Talk reports the ship broke mooring lines during gale force winds,
which were said to reach
force 10, at Zeebrugge yesterday.
Three tugs were nearby and helped her in berthing again.
The ship was reported as having some damage to her stern and was about
four
hours late in sailing, due to the damage, while a survey was carried
out.
|
Breaks
mooring lines |
| July 21 |
Tahitian
Princess
Princess Cruises |
Newspapers in St. John's (Newfoundland) and Sydney
(Nova Scotia) report unscheduled visits by the ship yesterday and
today. The visit to St. John's was advanced one day because the ship's
port calls to Greenland had been canceled (it sailed directly from
Iceland); the visit to Sydney was apparently added. |
Ports canceled and added |
| July 21 |
Freewinds
Church of Scientology |
Pacific
Free Press reports the ship docked at Bonaire and offloaded
wastewater that was dumped into trenches ashore. The effluent was
tested and found to be acidic and to have an high level of ammonia.
Other water quality tests are forthcoming. The ship was previously in
the news for asbestos contamination (see
May 11, 2008) |
Environmental |
| July
18 |
New Pacific
Quail Cruises |
Cruising
Talk reports the Italian Coast Guard has seized the ship against
debts of US$14
million owed to the Genoa-based San Giorgio del Porto shipyard.
|
Ship
seized |
| July
17 |
Equinox
Celebrity
Cruises |
Dutch
News reports all 2,100 crew and passengers on the ship,
currently moored in the Eemshaven in Groningen, are to be vaccinated
against measles.
Two members of the crew were diagnosed with the highly infectious
disease earlier this week.
Twenty crew members who were in close contact with the two sick people
have been moved to a hotel in Delfzijl as a precautionary measure.
The brand new ship, was due to leave for Southampton, England on
Friday afternoon. Most of the passengers work in the travel industry
and have come from all over the world.
|
Measles |
| July
16 |
Elation
Carnival Cruise Lines |
News
6 in San Diego reports FBI agents are aboard the ship investigating
the apparent murder of a 55-year-old
woman.
The ship was on the last leg of the cruise Tuesday in Cabo San Lucas
when a domestic dispute broke out between a husband and wife, according
to the FBI.
|
Murder
(Domestic violence) |
| July 16 |
Dawn Princess
Princess Cruises |
Chinese
media report five passengers on board the ship were in isolation
due to influenza A/H1N1 as the vessel is on a stop-over in the French
Polynesian capital of Papeete. The health ministry said the five have
been given Tamiflu, and there is an unspecified number of people who
were in close contact with the five, Radio New Zealand International
reported on Thursday. The ship is carrying nearly 2,000 passengers and
almost 900 crew. It arrived from Samoa and will sail to Bora Bora
before continuing its voyage to Hawaii and California. |
Swine flu |
| July
18 |
Costa Classica
Costa Crociere
|
Earth
Times reports a Hong Kong mother and son disappeared while
traveling between Hong Kong and Taijin, China. The pair were reported
missing July 7. They apparently went missing the fourth day of the
cruise while the ship was visiting ports in Japan. A source quoted in
the Hong Kong Standard newspaper said three letters were found in their
cabin outlining how their assets should be distributed in the event of
their deaths. Investigators also found several plates of fruit
indicating the pair might have conducted a ceremony. |
Missing
Pax |
| July 12 |
Spirit of Adventure
Saga Holidays |
Norway's biggest newspaper, VG
Nett, reports the ship is leaking oil in the UNESCO World
Heritage-listed Geirangerfjorden on the western coast of Norway. On the
pictures seen on VGs website, the ship is seen surrounded by lenses.
Rescue boats, police, firemen and other teams rushed to the scene as
the reports of the spill reached the officials. Norwegian environmental
authorities also sent an airplane to provide aerial assessment of the
possible damages caused by the spill. According to the newspaper, the
leak was caused by an overflow, causing oil to spill into the fjord.
The spill was reported at 8.45 AM, and officials are quoted saying the
spill was of "significant amounts". There is no danger of the oil
reaching the shores, Rita Berstad Maraak of Geiranger harbour says to
VG. |
Environmental |
| July 8 |
Emerald
Princess
Princess Cruises |
Media
in Finland report the ship docked in Helsinki this morning.
Helsinki City health authorities have been notified that five people
aboard the ship have contracted swine flu. On Tuesday Helsinki City
Epidemiologist Hannele Kotilainen said any passengers or crew members
who are infectious will not be allowed ashore while the vessel is in
Finland. All in all, ten people have been quarantined. When the ship
was last in Helsinki in late June (see July 2 below), Finnish officials
were not informed that there were several people on board at the time
who had contracted swine flu. The ship was in Finland on June 28th
before sailing on to St. Petersburg. Cases of swine flu onboard had
been confirmed by tests taken in Oslo four days earlier. The infections
were reported to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
by Norwegian officials, but the information went unnoticed by Finnish
authorities. The captain of the vessel was under obligation to report
the infections before entering Helsinki harbour. |
Swine flu |
| July 7 |
Eurovoyager
TransEurope
Ferries |
The Marine
Accident Investigation Branch issued a report on an incident
November 3, 2008 where a crew member was crushed by a watertight door,
resulting in serious injury. The report found that many of the doors
were routinely left open at sea, which potentially compromised the
vessel’s watertight integrity. It also lists other safety concerns
related to the accident. |
Crew injury - Safety issue |
| July 6 |
Marco Polo
Transocean Cruises |
BBC
reports one man has died and 150 people have been taken ill from
(it appears) norovirus on board the ship, which is berthed at
Invergordon in Easter Ross (Scotland). NHS Highland said tests were
under way to establish that the outbreak was caused by norovirus. The
cruise line issued a statement that the man's death was not the result
of norovirus. UPDATE July 7: The Daily
Mail today reports 380 people (340 passengers, 40 crew) have
reported ill (the ship has onboard 749 passengers and 340 crew) and
that five have been treated in hospital.The present cruise, which began
July 4, was terminated July 7 because of the outbreak. The
Herald reports July 9 that there had been an illness outbreak on
the previous cruise to Iceland (31 passengers; 2 crew). The ship's
master faces possible legal action because the illness outbreak had not
been reported when the ship disembarked/embarked passengers in London
on July 4. |
Illness |
| July 6 |
Sun Princess
Princess Cruises |
Press
in Australia report Customs and Border Protection successfully
prosecuted Princess Cruise Lines for allowing an unauthorised person to
board a vessel while in port. The company was fined $10,000 and ordered
to pay an additional $1000 in court costs. On 11 November 2007, the
ship Princess was anchored at Funnel Bay in the Whitsunday Islands.
While the ship was anchored, an unauthorised person boarded the vessel
for a personal visit. The cruise ship had been granted permission under
the Customs Act 1901 for the vessel to be brought into unproclaimed
ports in Queensland subject to a number of conditions. One of these
conditions stated that persons are not permitted to visit the vessel
except for work-related situations and detailed advice must be relayed
to Customs and Border Protection if this is to occur. |
Fine (Border protection) |
| July 2 |
Emerald
Princess
Princess Cruises |
Copenhagen
Post reports doctors at Copenhagen hospitals are awaiting the
arrival the cruise ship due to dock in Copenhagen on Saturday that has
14 crew members on board infected with the Influenza A H1N1 virus (see
June 29, below). Princess Cruises confirmed to the Cruise Critic
website that some of the crew on board its Emerald Princess cruise
liner had tested positive and are now in isolation and being treated
with anti-viral medication. The ship has already called at ports in
Finland, Russia and Sweden, prior to its expected arrival in Denmark
this weekend. There are 4,400 passengers and crew on board, but Danish
health authorities have not yet decided if passengers will be allowed
off the ship when it reaches Copenhagen. ‘The hospitals have been
advised that there could be a number of passengers or others who have
to be admitted,’ said health inspector Arne Scheel Thomsen. ‘So the
system is ready to deal with the situation.’ |
Swine flu |
| July 1 |
Freedom of
the Seas
Royal Caribbean
International |
Associated
Press reports an amphibious tour bus veered off a road Wednesday,
injuring about 30 cruise ship passengers who were taking a shore
excursion in the US Virgin Islands. The Duckaneer, which has
a boat-like hull for traveling in water and wheels for moving on land,
was carrying 47 passengers from the ship when it went off the road in
St. Thomas and crashed into bushes. About 30 people were treated at
nearby Schneider Regional Medical Center for minor injuries, hospital
spokesman Sam Topp said. One passenger suffered a broken ankle and was
expected to be kept overnight for observation, he said. |
Injuries on shore excursion |
| June 29 |
Emerald
Princess
Princess Cruises |
RIANOVOSTI
reports the ship, with 14 A/H1N1-infected people onboard, arrived in
St. Petersburg on Monday. Swine flu was confirmed in 13 crew members
and one passenger. The ship sailed from the Finnish capital, Helsinki.
The infected have been quarantined in their cabins and are being
treated with the anti-viral drug Tamiflu. The first case of the highly
pathogenic virus was confirmed in several crew members on June 18. When
the vessel arrived to St. Petersburg, 16 people had already recovered
and tested negative for the virus. |
Swine
flu |
| June 29 |
San Ramon de Bohol
Lite Shipping Corp |
Philippine
Daily Inquirer reports ore than 200 passengers and crewmen have
been stranded at sea for five hours now after one of the ferry's
navigation wheels (timon) got stuck, one of the ship's owners said. The
ferry left Cebu City port at 10 p.m. Sunday and was expected to arrive
here at 3 a.m. Monday.Te ship was is seven nautical miles off the coast
of Carcar, Cebu and Cabilao Island, Bohol. The shipping line has
decided to call up one of its ferries, Lite Ferry 1, from Siquijor to
rescue the passengers, but it has to pass by the Cebu City port to load
food for the stranded passengers and crew. Passengers are expected to
arrive in Tagbilaran by noon. |
Stranded at sea (ferry) |
| June 27 |
Oceanic
Peace Boat |
The New
York Post reports the ship (with 848 passengers) was detained after
Coast Guard inspectors found a small hole in the ship's hull during a
routine safety inspection. About a gallon of water per hour was coming
into the ship, according to the Coast Guard. An additional 16 safety
violations were cited. The ship arrived from Iceland and is due to
leave tomorrow for Venezuela. Repairs are expected to be completed by
then. Update June 28: Newsday
reports the ship is expected to be taken to a New Jersey dry dock for
repairs; the ship's passengers will be taken to Atlantic City hotels.
The cruise is expected o resume July 1.Update: The
ship left Bayonne July 2nd. |
Detained - Hole in Hull |
| June 24 |
Navigator of
the Seas
Royal Caribbean
International |
PR-Inside
reports two women (58-year old American and 34-year-old Italian) were
quaratined during a port call in Barcelona; both tested positive for
swine flu. The women will remain on the ship and it will leave as
scheduled Wednesday night for Palma, on the Mediterranean island of
Mallorca. There doctors will examine them again. The cruise ship began
its trip in Italy and stopped off in France before arriving in
Barcelona. |
Passengers quarantined |
| June 23 |
Ocean Village
Ocean Village
Cruise Holidays |
A poster at Cruise
Critic reports a crew member fell to his death in Palma on Tuesday,
round about lunchtime. We heard the call Man Overboard, Muster,
but as it was called out in a low key tone we thought nothing more of
it. But then some of us went up to top deck and leaned over the balcony
and watched as the tender came in with what looked like a model in the
back. We thought it was a practice but a passenger stated (having been
told by someone) that it was indeed for real, that a workman had fallen
from the ship and wasn't breathing. We saw the medics on board the
tender, taking photos and feeling his limbs, then were all moved away
from the railing. The Majorca
Daily Bulletin says the body of the 42 year old Indian man was 42
was spotted floating in the sea at about midday. |
Crewmember overboard |
| June 22 |
Pacific Sun
P&O
Australia |
Fiji Times
reports five passenger that arrived in the Northern Division yesterday
were not allowed ashore on the orders of health officials. Officials
who are part of the quarantine team at Savusavu port requested that the
five remain in their cabins after they showed symptons of seasonal flu.
Health inspectors from the Savusavu Hospital awaited the arrival of the
cruise liner to check passengers. A health official said the team had
already known of the five cases before the cruise liner docked.
Ministry of Health spokesman Iliesa Tora said a team was at the port in
the morning to carry out necessary inspection on the 1600 passengers
that disembarked. |
Passengers quarantined |
| June 21 |
Carnival Legend
Carnival Cruise Lines |
You
Tube has a video from a cruise about a month ago. It was called to
my attention by the following email: A friend went on this cruise
and told me about the water in her cabin, and in the cabins of several
people she spoke with on the cruise. It was brown in color and smelled
badly. Comments with the video include another passsenger who
says they had the same problem in their cabin. |
Unpalatable water |
| June 21 |
Pacific Star
P&O
Australia |
Fiji
Village reports all arriving passengers were screened for swine
flu. Health Ministry officials looked for any symptoms of Influenza A
H1N1 amongst the 1,600 passengers of the Pacific Star which docked at
the Savusavu whalf at around 8:30 this morning. |
Passengers screened |
| June 20 |
Crown Princess
Princess Cruises |
From
a reader: My friend is on board the Crown Princess
Mediterranean Explorer itinerary. She emailed me this morning
with the following information: "Yep- we heard it from the head of
passenger services - there was a fire on board this morning. We heard
an announcement that said "immediate containment in room---" Later we
were in the Sky Walker lounge and the head of passenger services
was there to chit chat again and he volunteered the information. Story
is- woman smoking in her room was collecting her ashes in a napkin and
wrapping them up to put in the trash can. Destroyed her room. She is
being escorted off tomorrow and charged for the repair of the room. He
then told us about the sensors to pick up candles and then smoke!! The
sprinklers do more damage than fire." Note - This
clarification was offered by another reader: I was
disturbed to read the last sentence. Being a firefighter, sprinklers
SAVE LIVES, and protect property. When a sprinkler is activated, it
contains the fire until firefighters arrive, then the sprinklers must
be turned off at a reasonable timeframe, usually when the firefighters
with hoses have contained the blaze. So the sentence, they cause more
damage is just wrong! Note: Many cruise ships
have fog nozzles rather than sprinklers in the main crew/passenger
areas. These are just as effective, but cause less damage should they
be activated.
|
Fire |
| June 20 |
Ocean Dream
Pullmantur Cruises |
Radio Jamaica
reports health authorities in Aruba have been checking passengers and
crew from the cruise ship for signs of the Influenza A (H1N1) virus.
The Dutch territory's health ministry said the tests were a precaution
to prevent the spread of the virus. The ship arrived back in Aruba late
Monday. The passengers' Caribbean trip was cut short after three crew
members tested positive for the H1N1 virus while eleven others showed
symptoms. Authorities in Aruba have not ruled out some of the
passengers spending more time on the vessel. The people on board were
said to be calm but frustrated by the long wait and lack of
information. UPDATE: Taiwan
News reports all but one passenger disembarked Saturday (June 20)
and 400 crewmembers will disembark Tuesday. The single passenger and
three crewmembers tested positive and are under quarantine onboard the
ship. |
Swine flu |
| June 18 |
Carnival Corporation |
Seatrade Insider reports Carnival
Corp. chairman Micky Arison said that 20 of 23 Caribbean governments
where the company operates ships have agreed not to ban calls due to
concerns about swine flu. ‘Over-reaction in some locations is a
problem,’ Arison said during today’s Carnival earnings call. He told
analysts the company is trying to deal with the issue on a port by
port, country by country basis. He said it’s a matter of educating
destinations about the facts. Cruise ships have rigorous sanitation
protocols and practices that include the immediate isolation of
passengers or crew who exhibit flu-like symptoms. These measures
minimize the chance swine flu could spread from ship to shore. NOTE:
His comments are interesting in the context of
Carnival's over-reaction in stopping all port calls to Mexico when
swine flu first appeared (especially given that most of those ill were
not in Mexico's ports). |
Corporate pressure on ports |
| June 18 |
Royal
Princess
Princess Cruises |
Cruise Critic
reports a fire broke out in the engine room at 8:10 p.m. local time on
Thursday as the ship was departing from Port Said, Egypt. A statement
from Princess says that passengers aboard were called to their muster
stations and fire teams were deployed. All 733 passengers and 393
crewmembers have been accounted for, and there have been no resulting
injuries onboard the ship, which is currently in the middle of a
12-night Holy Land sailing from Rome to Athens. Royal Princess is
currently anchored off the coast of Port Said. Princess spokeswoman
Karen Candy said there is no word yet on whether the incident will
delay any of the ship's remaining calls in Ashdod (Jerusalem), Haifa,
Kusadasi or Patmos Island. The ship is due in Athens on the 25th. UPDATE:
Princess Cruises released the following statement: In order to
fully assess the impact of the engine fire that occurred earlier this
evening, we plan to bring Royal Princess back into Port Said, Egypt
tomorrow. The assessment process includes flying various technical
experts and regulatory authorities to the ship for a complete
inspection, and they should be arriving onboard by tomorrow evening. So
while our own assessment will occur throughout the day tomorrow, we
expect the full assessment to be complete on Saturday. This means Royal
Princess will be spending Friday and Saturday in Port Said. UPDATE
June 19: Princess
reports that the current cruise and the next cruise (June 25) will
be cancelled because damage is greater than initially thought.
Passengers on both voyages will receive a full refund of their fare,
plus a future cruise credit equal to 25% of the cruise fare paid for
these sailings. |
Fire |
| June 18 |
Ocean Dream
Pullmantur Cruises |
BBC News
reportsVenezuela has quarantined the ship following an outbreak of
swine flu on board. More than 1,200 passengers and crew will be kept on
board the vessel, which has docked at the Venezuelan island of
Margarita. They were stopped from disembarking at previous stops in
Barbados and Grenada after three crew members were diagnosed with the
flu virus. Eleven more crew members are reported to have symptoms. "The
virus was detected in three crew members and the boat must now stay in
quarantine until June 24," said Venezuelan health official Jorge
Alchaer. UPDATE
June 19: Safety
at Sea International reports the ship is
headed for Aruba today after 342 Venezuelan passengers went ashore. The
cruise line issued a statement today denying that Venezuela quarantined
the ship until 24 June, as Caracas had earlier said. "The ship is
continuing its itinerary to Aruba, where the rest of passengers and
affected crew members will disembark in strict accordance with security
measures established by Aruba's health authorities," Pullmantur added.
Ocean Dream left Isla de Margarita off Venezuela, carrying 198 Spanish
passengers and 151 Colombians, said the company, which added three crew
members infected with swine flu and 11 others with flu symptoms were
all improving. |
Swine flu |
| June 18 |
Ocean Dream
Pullmantur Cruises |
Reuters
India reports the ship was refused entry to Bridgetown, Barbados
because of reports of flu-like symptoms among its occupants, shipping
agents in Bridgetown said. |
Swine flu |
| June 17 |
Crystal Serenity
Crystal Cruises |
The Croatian Times
reports the ship has been fined 62,000 kunas or 8,524 Euros because it
dumped ashes into the sea. The Dubrovnik harbour-master’s office
imposed the fine today. The incident occurred last weekend near Lokrum
Island near Dubrovnik when the ship was leaving. A local beach was left
covered by ashes. |
Environmental |
| June 16 |
Diamond
Princess
Princess Cruises |
News 8
reports norovirus has caused several people to not be allowed to leave
their rooms for fear of spreading the virus. One passengers says the
captain told them the highly contagious stomach illness norovirus is on
board and people are cleaning the ship, hoping it will get better. She
says, the group was told hundreds of people had norovirus. She says
most people are being served food in their rooms to prevent others from
getting sick at the buffet. Princess Cruises released a statement
saying, "We have a small number of passengers with symptoms of
norovirus -- nothing unusual or escalated." They also say people who
are sick have been asked to stay in their rooms. Last fall, sources say
400 British passengers were quarantined in China after norovirus spread
aboard the Diamond Princess. |
Illness |
| June 16 |
Oriana
P&O Cruises |
From a passenger: More cases of
novovirus on oriana on cruise starting after previous cruise with 50
confirmed cases (see May 31 below). New passengers were not informed of
outbreak before sailing on June 1st. When returned to Southampton on
June 15th outbreak still ongoing. |
Illness |
| June 16 |
Sun
Princess
Princess Cruises |
The
West Australian reports ill passengers aboard the cruise ship have
been tested for swine flu before docking in Fremantle tomorrow. The
ship, which departed from Sydney on May 2 for an Indian Ocean cruise.
is the first international cruise ship to arrive in Perth since the
outbreak of the A/H1N1 virus. It is due to dock at Fremantle Port at
7am tomorrow and is expected to leave at 4pm. A Princess Cruises
spokesman said he did not know how many swabs had been taken from
passengers for testing at a WA health laboratory but confirmed the
ship’s doctor had sent swabs to for testing as precaution. He said
during the 46 night cruise, which made stops in Asia, South Africa,
India and Mauritius, only seven people had shown flu-like symptoms of
which five were confirmed to have contracted influenza A. In line with
national protocols, all passengers will be required to fill out health
declaration cards before being allowed off the ship. All sick
passengers will be assessed by WA health communicable disease control
staff and people sharing the same cabin will be offered Tamiflu as a
precaution if appropriate. |
Swine flu |
| June 16 |
Ocean Dream
Pullmantur
Cruises |
Grenada
Broadcasting Network reports the ship, which was scheduled to visit
Grenada on Monday, was turned away by health authorities. Passengers
were prohibited from coming ashore by the Ministry of Health because
some crew members were exhibiting flu like symptoms. Geo. F. Huggins
& Co. (G'da) ltd; local agents for the ship, confirm that the
company was informed by the vessel that approximately forty (40) crew
members onboard were found to be exhibiting flu-like symptoms. As a
precautionary measure, the Ministry of Health prohibited the
disembarkation of any passenger or crew member. |
Swine flu |
| June 16 |
Carnival Holiday
Carnival Cruise Lines |
CNN
reports a search is underway for a passenger (50 year old woman) who
apparently disappeared from a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico. The
ship, which sailed from Mobile, Alabama, was stopped about a third of
the way to Cozumel, Mexico, and passengers were told to return to their
cabins for a head count. A U.S. Coast Guard spokesman said the count
was initiated because a crew member had heard a loud splash near the
vessel. The ship appeared to be circling in Gulf waters Tuesday.
Passengers were told in an audio message Tuesday that the ship would
proceed to Cozumel when the Coast Guard released it, but the ship's
arrival to the Mexican city would be delayed. The passenger is believed
to have fallen about 10:30 p.m. CT Monday, and boats were launched from
the cruise ship to search nearby waters.The FBI said its violent crimes
unit is investigating Vilborg's disappearance. FBI Agent Tim White said
agents are looking at every possible angle. UPDATE: See follow-up
article quoting woman's husband here. |
Person overboard |
| June 15 |
Carnival
Inspiration
Carnival Cruise Lines |
Sun
Coast News reports crewmembers from a pilot vessel rescued a 46
year old man clinging to a buoy at about 6:50 a.m., about one mile
southeast of Mullet Key, in Fort Desoto, in St. Petersburg. He went
overboard at 4AM when he slipped after climbing up on a railing to get
a better view of the pilot boat. The ship was returning from a four-day
cruise. |
Person
overboard - rescued |
| June 13 |
Millennium
Celebrity Cruises |
From a passenger: My
wife and I were on the cruise from Seward AK to Vancouver BC
and I experienced Norovirus. Was terribly sick for 24 hours;
ships doc arrived 13 hours after my request to see him. Was
isolated for a second day, as well as my wife to ensure she did not
have it. Celebrity seemed to respond very well, requiring staff
to dispense water, juices, coffee, etc., and even removing salt/pepper
shakers from tables. Those who were isolated were asked to gather
at special place on ship to disembark in advance of all other
passengers (as required by Canadian health authorities, or so we were
told). 40 of us were in that group (including spouses/travel
companions who may not have contracted the virus, so at least 20 of the
~2000 passengers had been infected). Celebrity compensated us for our
"lost days" (2 for me; 1 for my wife) - total of $1,200, which, as I am
told, is far more than most cruiselines would do. |
Illness |
| June 11 |
Enchantment of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
News7
Belize reports that disembarakation was delayed for more than four
hours because of a swine flu scare. Six of the ship's crew had flu
symptoms and were quarantined on the ship. As a precaution, passengers
weren’t allowed to de-board until a Ministry of Health team checked out
the ship. The okay was given at mid-day and the passengers filed off
the ship. The TV station reported that most passengers were unaware
that there was an onboard H1N1 scare. |
Swine flu |
| June 10 |
Adventure of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
The Daily
Mail reports the ship was turned away from St. Lucia today over
worries the vessel was carrying the H1N1 swine flu virus. The line says
another island, Antigua, also has told the ship not to visit as
scheduled on Thursday. The islands' decisions came after the line
reported two crew members and a passenger on the ship had been
experiencing flu-like symptoms. The ship departed San Juan, Puerto Rico
Sunday on a seven-night Southern Caribbean cruise and has stopped only
at Bridgetown, Barbados. It is scheduled to visit Philipsburg, St.
Maarten and St. Croix, Virgin Islands later this week. There's no word
yet on whether the two islands will allow the ship to dock. |
Swine flu |
| June 8 |
Zaandam
Holland
America Line |
Associated
Press reports at least three crew members tested positive for swine
flu. The seven-night, round-trip cruise had departed Seattle on May 29
and returned Friday. It visited Ketchikan on Wednesday. A medical
epidemiologist with the Alaska Department of Health and Social
Services, said her department was informed Tuesday that three crew
members were affected. More were reported with symptoms Wednesday.
Specimens were collected and sent to the department's lab in Fairbanks
for analysis. Swine flu was confirmed Thursday. None of the officials
had an exact number of cases available. Subsequent reports from Agenece
France Presse put the number at five crew members comfirmed illwith
swine flu. |
Swine flu |
| June 8 |
Coco Explorer 2
7107 Islands Cruise |
The Manila
Standard reports the ship was seized from its owner who imported
the vessel two years ago but did not pay P19.8 million in taxes on it.
The ship, formerly named Coco Explorer 2, entered the Port of Batangas
on Sept. 4, 2007, supposedly for repairs, but officials said it was
actually brought in to be delivered to its owner, Esteban Tajanlangit.
The ship had been operating on the Coron-Puerto Galera-Boracay route
and is said to offer 137 rooms that can accommodate 400 guests “in
five-star luxury.” The owner had tried to avoid paying duties on the
ship by registering it with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and
the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
The Zone Authority said it did not grant the owner an import permit for
the ship, and that it registered with it only last September after the
vessel had already been subject to forfeiture proceedings.
Customs seized the ship in Manila on May 30, a Friday, just as its
passengers and crew were having a party. |
Ship seized |
| June 4 |
Liberty of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
The Cayman
Compass reports a 62 year old woman died while swimming off 7 mile
beach. Police said that the 911 Emergency Communications Centre
received a call from a member of the public at around 11.45 am on
Wednesday reporting that a swimmer had been brought to shore
unconscious in the vicinity of Royal Palms. Police and medics responded
to the scene and the 62-year old woman was taken to hospital where she
was unfortunately pronounced dead. Detectives have been told
that the woman had been swimming with her husband when she got into
difficulty. Her husband sought assistance from another cruise ship
passenger who was in the area on a jet-ski and she was brought to shore. |
Pax death ashore |
| June 2 |
Carnival Destiny
Carnival Cruise Lines |
Posted at Cruise
Critic: I was attacked by fellow passenger on the Destiny! Just
returned from the 5-28-09 sailing and on the 1st night I had walked up
to get some pizza at about 3:30 AM for my wife and myself. While I was
waiting fro the pizza and bread to bake I had drink at the back pool
bar after about 10 - 15 min pizza was ready and I was returning to my
room and I walked up on 3 young mid 20's drunk men 1 of which was
urinating on the wall outside of my room. I will not go into many
details here but lets just say they where not happy that someone
challenged them on what they were doing and that I was going to call
security on them. That is when I was Physically assaulted, they must of
thought they could scare me off before security arrived, well they were
wrong I was not going anywhere! After a few mins they realized maybe
they bit off more that they could chew they ran off to their room which
was great for me I knew just where they went. Security finally showed
up went to both rooms took statements and pictures I did end up with a
good shiner but the other guy ended getting removed from the ship on
his very 1st morning plus at least a $300.00 fine for not stopping at a
foreign port.
|
Pax on Pax assault |
| June 2 |
Dawn
Princess
Princess Cruises |
ABC
News reports the ship has been turned away from Lifou, New
Caledonia amid fears of swine flu after up to five people on board
started showing flu-like symptoms. Swabs have been taken from the sick
passengers and sent to Sydney for testing. The cruise left Sydney May
24 for a 13-day South Pacific cruise (previous port calls at Vanuatu
and Fiji) and is now heading back to Sydney and will arrive on Friday. |
Swine flu |
| May 31 |
Oriana
P&O Cruises |
Posters at P&O Cruises Community
indicate there is a norovirus outbreak on the current cruise.
Passengers were first notified on Friday (May 29) -- one passenger
writes: We have just sailed away from Madeira and the Captain has
annouced it is with regret that we have a norovirus outbreak onboard.
All usual emergency procedures are now in place, anyone else coming
down with it to ring 999 switchboard and stay in cabin, no self service
allowed, so waiters will serve our food by tongs from now on, and a
reminder to wash hands for 20 seconds when using the loo etc. Another
writes today: We have not been told how many people have noro
onboard, but it is enough to put out emergency procedures onboard, so
enough to declare publicly we have a problem. There were 2 new cases
yesterday and 2 more today the Captain said in his announcement at
12.15pm , 1/2 hr ago. On June 1, a passenger
says there were 50 confirmed cases. |
Illness |
| May 30 |
Amsterdam
Holland America Line |
The ship reported 8 of 587 (1.37%) crew
and 101 of 1546 (6.53%) passengers had reported ill with
gastrointestinal illness on a 7 day cruise ending today. |
Illness |
| May 29 |
Vicenzo Florio
Tirrenia di
Navigazione SpA |
The ferry, travelling from Naples to Palermo,
was 25 miles from the Sicilian capital when a fire broke out in the car
hold early today. The 526 passengers used lifeboats to reach another
ferry and a Coast Guard ship that came to the rescue. Initially, most
of the 35 crew members stayed aboard to help firefighters extinguish
the blaze, however the captain later ordered a complete evacuation
because the flames were spreading. The ship is being towed and was
expected to reach Palermo later today. |
Fire |
| May 27 |
Coral
Princess
Princess Cruises |
The Anchorage
Daily News reports a gastrointestinal illness outbreak on Sunday
sickened 108 of its 2,000 passengers and seven crew members. The ship
arrived in Whittier on Monday shortly after noon and was scrubbed down
before taking on a new load of passengers that evening. The CDC subsequently reported 121 of 2001 (6.05)
passengers and 7 0f 914 (0.77%) crew report ill. From a
passenger: The first shipboard announcement was on the
23rd. Announcements suggested people use the toilets in their cabins,
and to wash their hands for at least 20 seconds. Only change to
shipboard routine we saw was at the buffet line: waiters served food to
each person as they walked by, rather than allowing people to take
their own food. Routines in the regular dining rooms remained
unchanged. A man in the cabin next to us said his wife was quarantined
to her cabin and would disembark through a different route than the
other passengers. |
Illness |
| May 27 |
Pacific Dawn
P&O
Australia |
The
Australian reports the ship will be quarantined off Willis Island,
east of Cairns, tomorrow after three crew members tested positive for
swine flu. The crew have been isolated and medical samples will be sent
to Brisbane laboratories for testing. The ship has missed scheduled
stops in the Whitsundays. It had been cleared Monday by NSW Health to
sail on a scheduled 10-night cruise to Queensland, but today NSW
announced it would treat all cruise ships arriving in NSW waters as if
swine flu were onboard. Eighteen cases of infection have now been
recorded from the cruise ship. Three crew members on the present cruise
have been confirmed to have the illness. UPDATE: The
ship's port call at Cairns and Port Douglas have been cancelled by the
government in its effort to prevent spread of swine flu. The ship will
call at Brisbane Saturday and return to Sydney Monday (three days ahead
of schedule). UPDATE: Bloomberg
News reports 53 passengers and crew
have tested positive for the H1N1 virus after two voyages. Most were
diagnosed after they disembarked in Sydney May 25. Cases among people
on board the ship have been found in Canberra and the states of New
South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Victoria, the nation’s
health department said by e-mail today. The infections contributed to a
more than twofold increase in Australia’s swine flu tally to 164 since
early yesterday. |
Swine flu |
| May 25 |
Carnival
Fantasy
Carnival Cruise Lines |
WWL
News reports the Coast Guard is searching for an 18 year old man
who fell overboard (some sources say he jumped) from
a cruise ship Sunday at around 9:45 p.m., about 150 miles southwest of
Tampa. The ship left port in New Orleans and was en-route to Key West
when the incident occurred. A search-and-rescue mission was launched by
the Coast Guard out of Miami, but the man has not been found. |
Passenger
overboard |
| May 25 |
Pacific Dawn
P&O
Australia |
The
Daily Telegraph reports a second case of swine flu outbreak. The
paper said Monday that Sydney Harbour was in lock down with two
children aboard the cruise ship believed to have tested positive for
swine flu. The two passengers have been quarantined in their cabins.
Test on four suspected cases came back positive at 6pm revealing two
passengers were infected with the H1N1 virus (another 170 passengers
show flu-like symptoms). Passengers were apparently allowed to
disembark, however asked to remain locked indoors at home. The two
children (confirmed cases) were isolated on board the cruise ship two
days after it left Sydney for the South Pacific on May 16 with what
they thought was the influenza A virus. |
Swine flu |
| May 23 |
Dawn
Princess
Princess Cruises |
The Melbourne
Herald Sun reports ship was quarantined for several hours on
arrival in Sydney at the end of a 35 night cruise of the Pacific amid a
swine flu scare. Almost 2000 passengers, and another 900 crew, were
kept on the ship for more than five hours while another 2000 passengers
waiting to board were left to wait on the dock. The ship arrived at
Darling Harbour at about 12pm (AEST) today, hours late due to poor
weather conditions. Then, health officials were called out and the ship
was locked down because four passengers with mild influenza-like
symptoms were suspected to have swine flu - they underwent tests. All
passengers and crew were subsequently allowed to leave the ship but
told to remain in isolation in Sydney until the test results are known. |
Swine flu |
| May 22 |
Maasdam
Holland America Line |
Posters at Cruise
Critic report the ship tilted sharply to the starboard side while
on the St. Lawrence Seaway at about 9:45 PM. Things in my
stateroom slid and crashed. I understand the china and glasses in the
dining room ended up on the floor (just as they were serving the baked
Alaska). Another poster says s/he was with an officer that night
and was told that his department was heavily damaged. He said it
was caused by the pilot error and the captain was on the bridge at the
time and took command of his ship. The captain saw a sand bar coming on
the sonar and took action to avoid a mishap. We saw much damage in the
dining room and heard the bars had some damage. I hear a bill will be
sent to the pilot and hope they have good insurance. Now a few minutes
later we did pass by a cargo ship very closely and wonder who was
driving that evening on the river. |
Severe list |
| May 21 |
Holiday
Carnival Cruise Lines |
The ship missed its port call at Freeport (Bahamas)
because of rough weather. Also, a passenger reports that on its return
to Mobile the ship ran into a storm with high winds, causing the ship
to roll heavily to one side which resulted in dishes and other stuff
sliding off tables and furniture in staterooms. |
Missed port |
| May 20 |
Sea
Princess
Princess Cruises |
Grimsby
Telegraph reports a norovirus outbreak on a cruise ending in
Montego Bay (thus it will not be reported to the CDC). According to the
newspaper, the day the cruise was to end the captain announced there
was an outbreak of Norovirus, An elderly couple celebrating their
golden wedding anniversary were struck with the illness and moved by
the cruise line to the Altamont Hotel in Montego Bay, decribed by the
husband as "cheap and small, situated on the Hip Strip, with police
patrolling up and down the promenade in pairs." They say they were not
allowed to leave the hotel for 48 hours, and claim to have received no
information from the Princess Cruises, which organised the trip.
Eventually, 10 more couples who were affected by the outbreak joined
the pair in the hotel. Princess Cruises confirmed the norovirus
outbreak. |
Illness |
| May 18 |
P&O
Express
P&O Ferries |
The
BBC reports a man with a psychiatric condition was seen jumping
from the Larne to Troon ferry on Sunday evening. The boat, which was
travelling at about 30 knots, turned around to look for him. It
launched its onboard fast rescue craft and a helicopter from Prestwick
and a RNLI lifeboat from Girvan joined the search. The man was winched
to safety and taken to hospital after the vessel docked at Troon. |
Person
overboard - rescued |
| May 16 |
Coral Princess
Princess Cruises |
From a passenger: During a 3 day
repositioning cruise on the Coral Princess from L.A. to Vancouver at
10:30 am in the Lotus Pool on deck 14, a young woman was severely
injured while swimming. At 2:30 pm, the Captain ordered all upper decks
cleared as well as many staterooms on the port side, as a Coast Guard
rescue helicopter was on its way from San Francisco to initiate
an emergency evacuation of the young woman. They announced
over the P.A. system, that no photography or video cameras were
allowed during the procedure. At 3:00 PM the rescue team
arrived and hovered over the Coral Princess mid ship pool during the
evacuation procedure that lasted until 4:00 pm. |
Swimming pool injury |
| May 14 |
Carnival Victory
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
Safety at Sea
International Newsletter reports concerns over swine flu have
impeded disembarkation in Barbados Wednesday, but the cruise line
disputed a report that the ship had been quarantined. Barbados Port CEO
Everton Walters said the ship had been quarantined and the cruise port
had been closed. Carnival said a female crew member exhibiting flu-like
symptoms was recently placed in isolation and upon the ship’s arrival
in Barbados this morning, this information was provided to local
authorities. Carnival said, “In response to the information, local
authorities in Barbados are requiring that all guests disembarking the
vessel there be given a screening questionnaire. The process is
somewhat delaying debarkation. The ship will extend its port call in
Barbados until 1930 to provide additional time in port.” The female
crew member was quarantined shortly after the ship left Roseau,
Dominica. See Jamaica
Observer and The
Dominican. |
Swine flu |
| May 12 |
Carnival Splendor
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
The Daily
Mail reports an email identifying passengers who opted out of a
pre-paid tip to staff was found pinned to a wall in crew quarters by a
passenger on a behind-the-scenes tour of the ship. The company claims
this is not standard procedure. |
Non-tippers identified |
| May 9 |
Serenade of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
While cruise ships have dropped port calls in Mexico to
avoid swine flu, the first cases of swine flu on cruise ships were
identified on a cruise ship in Alaska. KTUU
in Alaska reports state health officials say a female crew member
(dining room waiter) tested positive for the H1N1 swine flu virus, and
that ship is now in Alaska waters. The ship was en route to Sitka on
Sunday, traveling in the Icy Strait on a 14-night cruise from the
Caribbean to Canada. "(Saturday) we received reports of a probable case
of the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus, also called swine flu," said Dr.
Jay Butler, the state's chief medical officer. Royal Caribbean said in
a statement that two crew members experienced flu-like symptoms about a
week ago. Both crew members were immediately isolated. The illness was
subsequently confirmed to be swine flu. |
Swine flu |
| May 8 |
Enchantment of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
Two passengers apparently had an altercation during the
muster drill at the start of the cruise -- enough to draw blood. Both
were offloaded from the ship when it arrived at Nassau. The incident
was taped and available on You Tube (but has since been taken offline). |
Pax on pax assault |
| May 8 |
Zenith
Pullmantur
Cruises |
Cruising
Talk reports the ship went aground on the approach to Copenhagen
having cruised too close to a wind farm of twenty four turbines on
Saturday in the Oresund Strait. Local reports have said that the ships
captain has been fined as a result of the incident. She is at present
operating seven day cruises, departing on a Saturday, from Copenhagen
or Helsinki with calls at Gdynia, St Petersburg, Stockholm and Tallin.
She was about 24 hours late when she sailed at 18.45 hrs. tonight from
Copenhagen. |
Aground |
| May 8 |
Crown Princess
Princess Cruises |
Gibraltar
Chronicle reports a British Airways plane aborted its landing after
the ship strayed into its flight path as it sailed from Gibraltar. “By
the time we did the final turn, it was obvious to me that we would not
clear the ship,” one passenger told the Chronicle. The exact position
of the cruise ship is not clear but admiralty rules establish an
exclusion zone at either end of the runway. |
Plane aborts landing |
| May 6 |
Island Princess
Princess Cruises |
The ship reported 7 of 894 (0.56%) crew
and 100 of 1954 (5.12%) passengers had reported ill with
gastrointestinal illness on a 14 day cruise ending May 7. |
Illness |
| May 4 |
Diana |
The
Local (Sweden) reports passengers were evacuated to safety after
the vessel,
plying the trans-Sweden Göta Canal, ran aground near
Oxelösund in eastern Sweden. Passengers were woken with a start
when the mayday was sounded. "The boat was listing badly and a large
number of people were unable to stand on the deck due to the boat's
gradient," Göran Johansson at the Swedish sea rescue service said
to news agency TT. Four boats and a helicopter participated in the
rescue. All 53 passengers were evacuated to safety. |
Grounded |
| April 30 |
Unnamed (but picture looks like Melody, MSC Cruises) |
The
Telegraph reports Spanish police have smashed a drug trafficking
ring that used pensioners to smuggle cocaine into Europe on luxury
trans-Atlantic cruise ships. The senior citizens posed as tourists
taking cruise holidays around South America to pick up packages of the
drug to bring back to Spain. Two women in their sixties, who were
chosen as "drug mules" because they were less likely to arouse the
suspicion of authorities, were arrested as they prepared to disembark
from a cruise ship when it docked in the port of Cadiz, south-western
Spain. Police found 27 kilos (59 lbs) of pure cocaine hidden in their
cabin. It is thought the drug was collected when the cruise ship
stopped in Brazil Another seven members of the ring were also arrested,
including two who were to collect the drugs from the women when their
ship docked in Spain, and the alleged leader of the operation who
attempted to flee to Brazil. |
Drug bust |
| April 30 |
SunCruz |
WDBO
News reports an 18-year-old man jumped off a gambling cruise ship
near Port Canaveral on a $15 dare and swam to Jetty Park. The man
jumped off the ship after accepting the dare from his friends. He was
not injured and had not been drinking. |
Jump overboard |
| April 29 |
Carnival Liberty
Carnival Cruise Lines |
The ship reported 57 of 1163 (4.9%) crew
and 208 of 3253 (6.39%) passengers had reported ill with
gastrointestinal illness on a 7 day Caribbean cruise ending in Miami
April 25. |
Illness |
| April 27 |
Mercury
Celebrity
Cruises |
KFMB Radio
in San Diego reports the ship arrived at 7 a.m. but passengers didn't
get to leave the ship until three hours later (missing flights home).
That's because the passenger count didn't match with the number of
people on the ship -- about five or six people were missing. The cruise
started on the U.S. East Coast with stops in Acapulco and Cabo San
Lucas before arriving in San Diego. |
Delayed disembarkation |
| April 23 |
Amsterdam
Holland America Line |
The ship reported 19 of 600 (3.17%) crew
and 119 of 1318 (9.03%) passengers had reported ill with
gastrointestinal illness on a 22 day Panama Canal cruise ending in
Vancouver April 24.UPDATE
April 28: CDC has revised the numbers to
25 crew (4.17%) and 135 passengers (10.24%). The cause of the illness
is Cyclospora cayetanensis. |
Illness |
| April 19 |
Sea Cloud
Sea CLoud Cruises |
Panorama
News (Gibraltar) reports there was a fire onboard a cruise sailing
ship at the weekend, as the ship sailed out of Gibraltar. There were 96
passengers on the 'Sea Cloud', which had the fire extinguised by the
fire brigade before returning back to the Rock. |
Fire |
| April 19 |
Un-named Riverboat |
Dutch
News reports a cruise ship with 155 American tourists on board
collided with two other cargo barges on the Waal river, a tributary of
the Rhine, close to Nijmegen. No-one was injured and although the
cruise ship was badly damaged, it was declared safe to sail on to
Dordrecht. The cruise ship crashed into an oncoming tanker carrying
2,400 tonnes of aircraft fuel during a manoeuvre to overtake another
barge. |
Collision |
| April 18 |
Norwegian Sky
Norwegian
Cruise Line |
The Miami
Herald reports the Coast Guard is searching early Saturday for a
39-year-old man who went overboard the cruise ship Norwegian Sky around
3 a.m. about 60 miles north of the Nassau, Bahamas. The ship left Miami
for a three-day cruise, and was headed to its first port of call,
Nassau. The name of the passenger was not released. Fellow passengers
saw him go overboard. Also assisting in the search were The Royal
Bahamas Defense Force, the Royal Caribbean Monarch of the Seas cruise
ship crew, the Norwegian Pearl cruise ship crew and Disney cruise line
smallboat crews. The search was called off at nightfall. |
Passenger overboard |
| April 17 |
Star Princess
Princess Cruises |
From a passenger: My sister and I
were on a 10 day cruise from San Francisco to the Mexican Rivera. At
midnight, after leaving port, we learned our luggage was missing. We
filled out and filed a report with the passenger service desk. We were
offered tolieties items and nothing else. We called in the AM and told
the luggage was still missing. Since we are both on scooters we
had no carry-on or any clothes except what we had on our backs.
We were not offered any help with shipboard credits for clothing
even though we were at sea for 4 days and still no luggage. We were
questioned at one time if we were sure we brought luggage and could we
show them airline claim check for the luggage (ironically, the Princess
agent assisted us with our luggage because we relied on scooters). Now
not only did we not have luggage we were now called liars. Late
Saturday afternoon they offered to wash and dry our clothes but they
would not be returned for 24 hours. Being those were the only
clothes we had we declined. I instead went to the laundrymat and did
the clothes myself in a Princess robe. Sunday still no luggage I
called my travel agent from the ship to arrange a flight home on
Tuesday from Accapulco. We had to pay for this flight home even
though we had one for the end of the cruise. Still no compensation from
Princess Cruise on board; our travel agent call the headquarters and
since we are on board only the on board staff could help us. Very
late Sunday our luggage was found. It had been left in the bus
with 5 other pieces. The assistant purser called and told us this
and also said they could not get our luggag to us in Acapulco. I asked
if he would arrange transportation for us on Tuesday to go to the
airport in Acapulco and he said he would. On Tuesday at noon when we
docked there was no ride waiting for us. We finally found the
taxi and left for the airport. During the trip to the airport my sister
asked if this was paid for by the cruise line and was told no we needed
to pay and it cost $70.00. UPDATE: We have
heard back from Princess -- given a $75.00 shipboard credit. despite
leaving the 10 day cruise on the 4th day. |
Missing luggage |
| April 14 |
Explorer of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
From a passenger: The
June 11 saling from Bayonne has changed its itinerary. It now arrives
in St. Marteen at 2:00 and leaves at 10:00 PM (Was 12:00-9:00). But the
worst is San Juan - it arrives at 10:00 pm and leaves 11:30 AM Docked
(Was 7AM - 2PM one day). These are minor changes but it really effects
the shore excursions. Many passangers are upset because RCCI announced
the change right after the final payment was due without an
explaintion. From a Reader: The April 11
post about RCCL's change in itinerary is not the only change, my
sailing on May 28 th has been changed also, to the one you have posted
for june 11, in fact, if you go to their web page and look at the 6 or
so sailings planned, they have all been changed to the the June
11 trip as posted.
|
Itinerary change |
| April 14 |
Super Star Virgo
Star Cruises |
The
Star/Asia News reports from George Town, Malaysia, that a
49-year-old man went missing while his wife was rescued after they
accidentally fell from a cruise ship about 15 nautical miles south of
Pulau Kendi. The woman and her husband fell about 20m into the sea at
10am yesterday. Investigatoirs are trying to determine how they fell
from the ship, which was from Singapore. |
2 passengers overboard - one rescued |
| April 12 |
Freedom of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
From a passenger: The cruise running
March 29 to April 5 had 100 cabins hits with norovirus outbreak. I was
on next sailing starting April 5 which had "code red" situation.
Lasted first 3 days. Extensive cleaning, sanitizing etc. Seem to have
worked. Didn't hear about any new cases. Breathing bleach, chlorine and
purel all day can't be to healthy. |
Illness |
| April 10 |
Carnival Valor
Carnival Cruise Lines |
From a passenger: I just returned
from the 7-day cruise April 5-12, 2009. On the morning of April 10th,
we were supposed to be docking at Progresso. At about the time we
should have been docking, the Captain made an announcement that we were
not going Progresso because of excessive winds (30+ kn). He told
us that the long channel they had to navigate through would not be safe
due to the winds. He went on to say that the safety of the vessel
and the passengers is most important and it wasn't worth the risk.
We were also told that we would now be spending 2 days at sea
instead of the scheduled 1 day. Although disappointing, it was
nice to actually hear the Captain convey the news versus the cruise
director. We were then told that Carnival was going to give each
passenger an on-board credit of $25. Ten minutes later, we were
told that the credit would only be $20 per person.
About an hour later, the Captain made another announcement regarding
his decision to skip Progresso. He reiterated his safety concerns
and happily informed us that we would be having an at-sea day and then
we would spend Saturday, April 11th at Key West. Eventually, a
letter magically appeared in our stateroom telling us that there would
not be any credits since we were now going to visit Key West and they
had to pay dock fees, etc.
|
Itinerary change |
| April 8 |
Greenlines
Dong Song Xanh Joint Stock Company |
VOV
News reports the cruise liner suddenly collided with a mooring buoy
during its voyage from Vung Tau to Ho Chi Minh City. The incident left
the ship with a huge gash in the buoy but all 79 passengers were
evacuated safely. The ship was carrying 79 passengers, including a
number of foreign tourists and 5 crew. |
Collision |
| April 7 |
Discovery
Discovery Cruise Line |
The
Bahamas
Weekly reports the cruise line, which offers cruise service between
South Florida and Grand Bahama Island every day of the week except
Wednesdays, announced the cancellations of sailings through April 12.
According to Hanns J. Hahn, General Manager of Discovery, “Due to
urgent repairs to the port main engine, cruises to and from Grand
Bahama Island have been cancelled until April 13.” |
Cancelation |
| April 2 |
Indian Ocean Explorer
Aquatours |
The
Associated
Press reports that tourist yacht and its crew of seven was hijacked
by Somali pirates near the Seychelles islands off Africa's east coast
yesterday. The yacht, which can carry up to 14 passengers, had just
dropped off its contingent of tourists before it was seized. The
British Navy suspects the boat would be taken to Harardhere, a pirate
stronghold north of Mogadishu, and would be held about three months.
All seven crew members are from the Seychelles. |
Tourist boat seized by pirates |
| April 1 |
Seven Seas Voyager Regent
Seven
Seas Cruises |
The
company announced today that the cruises scheduled for April 18 and May
8 have been cancelled so repairs can be made to one of the pod
propulsion units (see March 22 below). Guests who joined the cruise in
Dubai have been told, if they choose to remain on the ship, that all
port call en route to Rome have been cancelled except for Muscat,
Safaga, and Aqaba (Safaga and Aqaba notably have high priced shore
excursions that yield considerable revenue for the company). According
to a passenger: Shortly after checking in at the hotel on
Monday, I met a UK couple who showed me the letter they had received
from their travel agent early Saturday morning explaining the situation
as it seemed then and offering three options for everyone cruising from
Dubai to Istanbul: Full refund + $500 future cruise credit; switch to
Mariner in Asia a week or two later at no additional charge; continue
on with a somewhat curtailed (miss four ports) cruise with a $400
shipboard credit + 25% refund for that segment + 25% future cruise
credit. Ha! And that's how things stood until Tuesday night when word
began to spread that things were worse than they appeared. Wednesday we
were to check out of the hotel and proceed to the ship at
1PM. Once there, we boarded and were shown into the conference and
card rooms, and greeted by the captain and various mid-level staff to
explain our revised options: Voyager has bigger problems than
previously thought. No Istanbul. Only ports will be Muscat, Safage
overnight and Aqaba, then onward to Roma for 3-4 weeks of drydock.
Grosso problemo. Our choices are: Full refund and
they would do their best to rebook air home in same class, tho' it
might be 2-3 days before we could get out of Dubai; Mariner in Asia;
stay on ship & get 50% refund for 18 days on board + 100% refund
for additional days unused + flight home from Rome in same class you
came over on + refund of travel insurance premium as future cruise
credit. Plus I may be able to get something back from insurance
company for cruise interruption (doubtful). Oh, and we have until 3PM
-- less than two hours -- to decide. So it began. Everyone has
different situations. We explain our situtations to EVP vessel
operations who confers with CEO, who is limited by what insurance
company will pay line, but he has some wiggle room. He is very nice,
but can only go so far. So I chose #3, the best of three bad choices, I
guess. So, off we go limping along with one pod. Everyone wants to
see Luxor and Petra, and if they announce that they have to cancel one
or the other, there will be mutiny. Or at least real
lawsuits. Short of the ship actually sinking, it could not be
worse. |
From bad to worse to horrible |
| March 28 |
Aurora
P&O
Cruises |
The
Daily
Telegraph reports passengers have staged a revolt after visiting
only two ports in 22 days. This is in the aftermath of problems reports
below on March 3. A protest group – dubbed the Aurora Committee – is
now threatening legal action to compensate for the cruise, which some
passengers had saved for 20 years to afford. |
Passenger revolt |
| March 25 |
Norwegian Majesty
Norwegian
Cruise Line |
From
a passenger: On March 20th at approximately 14:45 off the
coast of Jacksonville, FL, following a boom or rumble like sound, large
chunks of rusty iron matter jettisoned out from ship's funnel raining
down on guests on aft sundecks 10 & 8. This was followed by a spray
of an oily substance and black soot that showered the entire aft
section. Passengers were literally coated with this residue permanently
damaging clothing and personal belongings. Crew members who witnessed
just pointed and laughed. Ship staff tried to smooth over by offering
free laundry and free wine + compensation for damaged clothing through
NCL Corporate. The ship and NCL themselves have yet to provide any
detail as to cause and/or health implications to those affected. See photos here. |
Sooty mess from smokestack |
| March 24 |
Norwegian Star
Norwegian
Cruise Line |
A man filed a lawsuit against NCL after being
assaulted during a vacation cruise on the Norwegian Star in March 2008.
He alleges that while traveling with his family, three men violently
attacked him with beer bottles and punched and kicked him in the face.
His parents asked NCL to identify the attackers and provide a copy of
the tapes from the cruise ship's surveillance system which recorded the
incident, but the request was denied. They hired a lawyer for the
purpose of obtaining the names of the assailants so that the crime
could be reported to the FBI, but NCL responded by blocking all e-mails
from the lawyer. They have now filed a lawsuit in Federal District
Court in Miami. See press
release here. |
Lawsuit filed |
| March 24 |
Westerdam
Holland America Line |
From a passenger: We
just returned from a seven day cruise on the Holland Westerdam, March
15 thru March 22 2009. When we boarded the ship, we noticed that the
crew was passing out the anti bacterial liquid on every floor. Three
days in the cruise we noticed the employees were thinner than normal.
Five days and the Captain of the ship announced that there was indeed
some sick crew and passengers and they were trying to contain the GI
Virus. We could not even get our own coffee or sugar. No salt and
pepper shakers on table. It was a terrible cruise. I would not
recommend it to anyone.
|
Illness |
| March 24 |
Eolos Kenderis 2 NEL Lines |
According to GR
Reporter the ferry hit the breakwater at the Santorini port at the
moment when the crew was trying to dock and to tie the rope to a post
on the port. There were 26 passengers and 20 crew members on board and
no serious injuries. There is a strong 7 Beaufort wind at the time. The
incident, which happened around 09:30 pm, scratched the ship right
under the water line. The ship is anchored outside the port and will be
examined to determine whether it needs repairs or it could continue
sailing. |
Collision with breakwater |
| March 22 |
Golden Princess
Princess Cruises |
From a passenger: Just got back
from a 14 day cruise to Hawaii. On Sunday March 22nd just before
midnight the ship's main fire alarm sounded off. The assesment crew was
sent to the engine room. The Captain came on the PA system and
announced a reported fire in the main engine room. The crew was
scrurrying around with their life vests on. I went up to the top deck
to see the smoke stacks. The ship had slowed down to less than half
speed and there was a strange burning smell. About 20 minutes later the
Captain came back on and announced that a turbocharger on one of the
main engines had blown a seal, set off the smoke detectors and blinded
the cameras. Within an hour we were back up to speed again. Also we
aborted the port docking in Nawiliwili, Kauai. We were told this was
due to high winds although they didnt seem all the high? Some of the
crew members confessed that this port is missed about 1 out of 4
times?? Had I known this I might have thought twice about booking this
cruise. |
Fire |
| March 22 |
Seven Seas Voyager Regent
Seven
Seas Cruises |
According to reports from passengers on board the
Voyager, one of the pods was caught in a fishing net. Attempts to
release the pod failed. The ship is on it's way to Dubai at a
speed of approximately 12-14 knots. The manufacturer of the pod
will be joining the ship shortly. The ship is expected to be dry
docked in Dubai to fix the pod. In the meantime, many port
cancellations have occurred (including Mumbai and Abu Dhabi).
There appears to be no media reports as yet on this story.
NOTE: There was a similar incident November 26, 2008, when
the ship was returning to Fort Lauderdale. It arrived in port a day
late because of reduced speeds. |
Propulsion problems |
| March 21 |
Carnival Splendor
Carnival Cruise Lines |
A
passenger writes that he and his wife were among 106 passengers refused
boarding on January 31 for the 51 day circumnavigation of South America
departing from Fort Lauderdale because they did not have visas for
landing in Brazil. The passengers say neither Caranival or their travel
agent told them about the need for a visa, even though they asked
multiple times. Carnival says the travel agent is the passenger's
representative, that they notified the travel agent, and that the
passenger could have booked directly with Carnival instead. In any
case, Carnival has refused to refund the passenger's fare even though
they weren't allowed to board the cruise and the passenger is pursuing
the matter in everyway they can. The moral of the story: check out visa
requirements whenever you travel outside your country -- the
information is normally available on the web from each country's
department of foreign affairs (or equivalent). Another
passenger writes: The cruise went from bad to really,
really bad. Most passengers caught the "cold" going around. If you were
on the cruise for the three legs, you could get it three times. The
dinning room refused to put gel dispensers outside the dining room.
Many of the passengers asked for it. The crew was sick, the nurses were
sick. They ran out of milk in cartons in Chile and put out uncovered
pitchers of milk, sitting in ice. People were coughing and sneezing
while in line for food. We went only to the dining room near the end of
the cruise. Don't even ask about the disaster that was immigration in
Long Beach. Carnival acted as if they had never been on a cruise
before. This was my 8th cruise with Carnival, never, never again. From
the way they treated the Visa people, to the way they handled
complaints, to immigration, they were uncaring and incompetent. Thank
goodness, the waiters, and stewards were really good. The captain was
absent from most past cruisers cocktail parties. And
another says: The ship ran out of medication,and we were
were told to buy our own at ports. Only everything was in other
languages therefore it was very difficult to do. |
Visa problems
---
Illness |
| March 20 |
Island Princess
Princess Cruises |
From a passenger: A
friend and I are currently on the 10-day Panama cruise out of Fort
Lauderdale, FL, and suspect a norovirus outbreak. As of
yesterday, passengers are not allowed to serve themselves in the buffet
and dinner rolls in the restaurants are served by waiters, not in
baskets where passengers help themselves. Staff are everywhere with
antiseptic spray, wiping down everything all day long. |
Illness |
| March 19 |
Queen Mary 2
Cunard Line |
From a passenger: We are
currently on the QM2 World Cruise and the ship is in semi-lockdown with
Norovirus. no idea of the numbers but the crew are going all out to
contain it. |
Illness |
| March 19 |
Coral Princess
Princess
Cruises |
Posted at www.cruise.co.uk:
Just be aware we are currently on this cruise & have been
just told that the ships turbo is broken & we cant go as fast !! We
have to miss Colombia, but the Captain is aiming to get us to Aruba.If
your on this cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale next Monday Good Luck !! |
Propulsion problems |
| March 18 |
Minerva
Swan Hellenic |
The cruise ship was due to arrive in Tristan de Cunha
(in the South Atlantic ocean) early morning but was delayed and arrived
at 1500hrs. No passengers were allowed ashore, so the Post Office, and
others selling Handicrafts went onboard the vessel. She stayed off the
settlement until 1900hrs before collecting two passengers and departing
for Cape Town. |
Late port call |
| March 12 |
Costa Victoria
Costa Cruises |
The
National (United Arab Emerites) reports a French tourist was run
down and killed today while on a pedestrian crossing in the capital
just 90 minutes after disembarking from his cruise ship. Witnesses said
the man was hit and killed instantly in front of the Marina Cafe about
11.30am, as he crossed the street with his wife and a friend. The
victim’s wife and the friend managed to jump out of the way, as the
driver sped off. The driver, an Emirati, had abandoned his car, a BMW
sports model, behind Marina Mall and fled on foot, but was arrested a
short time later. A spokesman for Costa tours said it had arranged for
a bus to take tourists to Marina Mall but why the victim, his wife and
friend decided to walk was unknown. |
Pax death onshore |
| March 12 |
Mercury
Celebrity Cruises |
The ship reported 4 of 834 (0.48%) crew
and 93 of 1862 (5.0%) passengers had reported ill with gastrointestinal
illness on a 16 day circle cruise to Hawaii from San Diego. The cruise
began February 28 and ends March 15. UPDATE
March 13: CDC has revised the numbers to 6 crew (.72%) and
113 passengers (6.1%). |
Illness |
March 10
|
Norwegian Sun
Norwegian
Cruise Line |
From a reader:
In
February, while on a cruise on the ship, I overheard two crew members
discussing the fact that another crew member had discovered $2,000
and returned it to it's rightful owner through the proper
channels. Apparently, the money was discovered in a pair of pants
belonging to a passenger who had sent them to the laundry to be
cleaned. Upon discovery, the laundry attendant promptly reported the
discovery to his superior and the money was returned to the owner.
|
Good news story
|
March 10
|
Choke Somboon 19
Dive Asia
|
Travel
Blackboard reports seven people are missing after the Thai boat
bound for Phuket capsized and sank after heavy rain and winds on Sunday
night. The boat was traveling at speeds of eight to nine knots on its
return journey when it sank from the Similan Islands to Phuket with 30
passengers and crew on board. 23 people were able to get into the life
rafts and have safely returned to Phuket, but seven people are still
missing and a search in the area was conducted [Monday] and continues
on Tuesday. It is believed that the six-month old ship hit a vortex
which had formed quickly, causing it to capsize. Local fisherman, who
were nearby, raced to the scene and found the survivors adrift in an
inflatable lifeboat.
|
Sunk |
March 9
|
Voyager of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
The itinerary on this cruise from Galveston was changed
after a female passenger sustained a broken leg on one leg and a broken
ankle on the other leg as a result of a fall down the stairs that go
from the Royal Promenade down to the Casino and had to be airlifted for
medical care. The Captain said due to the evacuation the should would
be 4 hours late arriving at our first scheduled stop in Cozumel.
Therefore the itinerary was changed and the ship went directly to
the next scheduled ports of Roatan on Wednesday and Coasta Maya on
Thursday. The Cozumel stop would then be on Friday and return to
Galveston as normal.
|
Itinerary change
|
March 9
|
Coral Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The Los
Angeles Times (and Associated Press)
reports a dining room headwaiter (a 38-year-old Portuguese national who
has worked for Princess for 18 years) was
arrested
today on suspicion
of sexually assaulting a 42-year-old female passenger. The crew member
was taken
into custody after the Federal Bureau of Investigation received the
complaint about the assault and dispatched investigators and an
evidence response team to the ship, which docked in Los Angeles this
morning. The ship was on 14-day cruise through the Panama Canal,
between Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Los Angeles.
|
Sexual assault
|
March 9
|
Millennium
Celebrity
Cruises |
The cruise scheduled for March 15 (14 day from
Auckland) has
been cancelled because
the ship requires dry docking to deal with a problem with a bearing on
the propeller shaft. Passengers booked on the cruise will
receive: a full
refund of all monies paid to Celebrity for the sailing; a future cruise
credit in the amount of the cruise fare paid, which may be used for
sailings that depart on or before 3/30/10 (can to be used on holiday or
Celebrity Xpedition sailings); and up to $250 per person for airline
change fees. The ship will end in Auckland March 15th, will sail to
Sydney for repairs, and is scheduled to return to Auckland for is March
29th cruise. Source: See New
Zealand Herald
|
Cancellation
|
March 9
|
Independence of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
Posters at Cruise
Critic report a woman fell from the pier with her motorized wheel
chair while the ship was docked at Cozumel this past week. One writes: We were walking back to this ship and we
were just passed the security guard that is outside the boat when we
heard a man yell for help. We saw the lady in the water. My husband and
I ran up to the ship and told the crew members who were working (taking
sea passes, etc) and they just looked at us. After yelling 3 times at
them that someone had fallen in the water and they needed help, they
finally took off running to help, but without any type of floatation
device. Then the security guard came for the life preserver. He was in
such a panic and rush that the rope from the preserver got caught in
the queue stands and he knocked over everything. Finally a female crew
member jumped in the water with the lady. It seemed like there was lots
of confusion and that they weren't really prepared for a situation like
this. There were lots of crew standing around outside on the pier, but
no one was really doing anything. They were yelling at each other to
get life jackets, etc. Although we did not see the lady actually be
lifted out of the water, she was floating fine when we saw her. Reports
from the crew (including the female crew member who jumped in with the
lady) said that the lady was doing fine and was on the ship.
|
Fall from pier
|
March 8
|
Royal
Caribbean International |
Royal Caribbean Caught Infiltrating Review
Sites With Viral Marketing Team -- See
article here
|
|
| March 5 |
Carnival Splendor
Carnival Cruise Lines |
Cruise
Critic reports a 63 year old male passenger was reported missing by
his wife while the ship was off the coast of Chile as part of an 18-day
South America voyage. The guest’s wife notified shipboard personnel at
9:30 a.m. this morning after she found a note that suggested a planned
suicide. The missing guest was last seen at approximately 4:30 a.m. The
ship’s command immediately began a vessel-wide search for the
individual and returned the vessel back to the area where the guest was
last seen. All appropriate authorities were notified. The Carnival
Splendor departed Santiago (Valparaiso), Chile, March 3 on an 18-day
South America cruise that ends in San Francisco March 21. |
Passenger overboard? |
| March 5 |
Fantasia
MSC
Cruises |
Think
Spain reports one person was injured early this afternoon when a
gangway joining the ship to the passenger terminal in Palma harbour
collapsed. Three crew members also ended up in the sea and had to be
fished out by the rescue services. The accident occurred as a result of
the strong winds affecting the Balearic Islands today. At about 2.30pm
today, as the passengers were disembarking from the cruise ship, a
strong gust of wind ripped several of the bow moorings off the bollards
and the boat lurched away from the quay, causing the gangway, at some
15m above the sea, to collapse. The passenger who was crossing the
gangway at the time fell into the water, hitting their head on the side
of the ship on the way down, prompting three crew members to dive into
the water to rescue him. All four have been treated for hypothermia and
the injured passenger, whilst currently in the care of the cruise
company's medical staff, might still be moved to a hospital in Palma. Click
here for a video of the incident.
|
Gangway collapse |
March 5
|
Costa Europa
Costa Cruises |
The
Telegraph reports angry passengers confronted the captain in
protest at what they felt was an "unacceptable" offer of compensation
after the ship became beset by engine problems. The two-week "Jewels of
the Indian Ocean" cruise ending February 28 was beset with propulsion
problems. The ship underwent repairs in the Kenyan port of Mombassa,
before
sailing towards Renunion, but passengers said the vessel’s speed
remained "erratic," while others noticed black smoke coming from the
engines. A scheduled stop on Reunion was then reduced to a short
"technical
stop," sparking further outrage before another confrontation allegedly
took place between the crew and passengers. Passengers at one point
staged a sit-in protest and began chanting for the captain, who finally
showed up and
apologized (according to passengers, admitting the cruise had been
‘ruined’. The company initially offered compensation of either an
on-board credit of 300 euros or a 600-euro discount; it later offered
both the on-board credit and discount. Some of the ship’s passengers
have since set up a blog
to
catalogue the alleged problems that occurred during the voyage.
|
Propulsion problems
--
Near mutiny
|
March 4
|
Unknown
|
The Cayman
Compass reports a 57-year-old cruise passenger died after she got
into difficulty while on a snorkelling trip. Witnesses on Seven Mile
Beach early that afternoon saw a crew from Red Sail Sports bringing the
woman into shore for medical assistance around 1:30pm. Police said the
Red Sail crew tried to save the woman by performing CPR while she was
being taken in to shore. The victim was rushed to hospital where she
was later pronounced dead.The woman was on a trip aboard one
of Red Sail Sports' catamarans.
|
Death on snorkelling trip
|
| March 4 |
Prince Albert II
Silversea Cruises |
The ships visit to Castro in Isla Chiloe (listed on the
brochure as the trip's highlight) on its cruise of Antarctica to Chile
was cancelled because of a 15 hour delay caused by a storm. However,
the delay was caused not just by the storm. According to a blog
from onboard, at 9:00 a.m., the Captain announced over the ship's
public address system that last night's storm was considerably worse
than anticipated, and a decision had been made to return south to the
fjords to seek shelter. This decision was prompted, in part, due to a
door being blown open at the front of the ship by the force of the seas
in the early-morning hours. The Captain added that whilst this had been
dealt with very quickly by the crew, it nonetheless led to
approximately two tonnes of seawater entering the ship. The door had no
alarm, so it was the fire patrol that found the door open and water
spilling into the ship. Most damage was to private properties of the
crew members who have their cabins under the forecastle. Some passenger
cabins (including ours) had the carpet wet, but no damage to properties. |
Cancelled port
--
Scary event |
March 4
|
Balmoral
Fred
Olsen Cruises |
Metro.co.uk
reports the ship made emergency calls after encountering "suspicious"
activity from two small craft in notorious waters off Somalia. Military
sources involved in monitoring the protected zone of the Gulf of Aden
said the incident yesterday was "a false alarm". But a spokeswoman for
Fred Olsen said: "Balmoral encountered suspicious activity by two small
craft, closing at high speed. The ship's master requested passengers to
assemble in 'safe havens' as part of a pre-planned safety procedure.
Aggressive maneuvering was implemented and contact was made with the EU
Coalition Task Force." The ship is expected to arrive in Salalah
tomorrow on schedule.
|
Pirate threat
|
March 4
|
Hrossay
Northlink Ferries
|
BBC
reports a passenger and a crewman on sailing from Aberdeen to
Shetland were taken to hospital after being thrown against bulkheads in
rough seas. The men were hurt at about 0610 GMT, when the ship was hit
by large waves and rolled twice in quick succession after it was caught
up in severe gale-force winds. In January both of Northlink's
Shetland ferries were seriously damaged by large waves within a week of
each other.
|
Injuries in high seas
|
March 3
|
Aurora
P&O
Cruises |
From a passenger: We broke down - 4 hours after leaving
Sydney the Captain announced there was a major problem with the port
propulsion system (the Port Shaft Thrust Bearing that has
gone). We can only do 13/14 knots and will miss Wellington, Bay of
Islands, and Napier,
instead heading straight for Auckland. Instead of 2 days it will take 4
to get there. Experts are flying to Auckland as the repairs cannot be
done at sea. There's a general downturn in the atmosphere... big
difference in comparison to yesterday leaving Sydney after having 2
amazing weeks in Australia. Some staff on board are already aware that
we are staying in port for at least 2 days. Possibly
longer. No need for a dry dock or anything as the bearing can be
replaced internally. UPDATE March 8 (Sunday): At
18:30 this
evening the Captain came over the tannoy with some further bad news.
He said that whilst visually the repairs completed to date looked
satisfactory, more detailed inspections with specialist equipment
(probably NDT) have identified the need for further repairs. As
such, Aurora will not be leaving Auckland until Tuesday
evening at the
earliest. The news then got worse as he said the Aurora would not now
be calling at Moorea or Tahiti, but would now be taking a more direct
route to Honolulu. However, he gave a glimmer of hope in that he
said there was a possibility of making a Polynesian port of call, but
this would not be known until the repairs had been completed and a
departure time from Auckland was known.
Compensation....he went on to say that a cheque would be sent to the
lead passengers home address in late March, but the exact amount has
not yet been decided by P&O's management. Update March 11:
New
Zealand Television reports the ship is scheduled to sail tonight (Wednesday).
However the Port
of Aukland website says the ship will depart March 12 (Thursday)
at 5:05PM. The ship will arrive in Honolulu one day behind schedule --
the day will be made up near the end of the world cruise be dropping a
port call at Madiera and stopping at Ponta Delgada in the Azores
instead.
|
Major Propulsion problems
--
Missed Ports
|
March 2
|
Azamara Quest
Azamara Cruises
|
From a reader:
Reported from the ship's Hong Kong to Beijing leg: Passengers did not
board Quest in Hong Kong yesterday until 6.00pm because the ship was
being cleaned from top to bottom due to norovirus. They were taken to
Disneyland for the afternoon. Their luggage wasn't delivered until
8.30pm.
|
Illness |
| February 27 |
Grand Princess
Princess
Cruises |
From a passengers: I just
returend from a 2 week Souther Caribbean cruise from Ft. Lauderdale.
Staff had colds the first day, including our waiter. By the second week
every other person was sneezing and coughing. Nothing was done to
contain this and no announcement was made. Not sure if they even
realized how many people were sick! |
Illness |
February 27
|
Oosterdam
Holland
America Line |
KFMB-TV
in San Diego reports 84 passengers have reported ill with
gastrointestinal illness, likely caused by norovirus. The ship returns
to San Diego tomorrow and according to the cruise line will be
sanitized. Update
March 2: eFluxMedia
reports
the numbers are now 106 passengers and 4 crew reporting ill. NOTE: Is it a
coincidence that this cruise began the day after the Zaandam cruise
(below) ended or is it possible a crew member from Zaandam brought the
illness with him/her onto Oosterdam? UPDATE:
CDC reports the numbers ill
at 110 of 1840 (5.98%) passengers and 10 of 786 (1.27%) crew members. |
Illness |
February 26
|
Unknown
|
The Miami
New Times reports a man got aboard a cruise ship this past November
at the Port of Miami -- he had three hours to kill before the ship took
off. So, through some fancy web setup and a wireless card, he was able
to watch about two and a half hours of a Chicago Bears game.
Afterwards, the ship took off. When he got back home, he found a
$28,067.31 cell phone bill! Seems AT&T was charging him
international rates of two cents per kb. He called AT&T to
straighten out that he was actually in the US, but the best they could
do for him was a $6,000 bill. The Chicago
Sun-Times got on the case, and found his wireless card was
picking up signals it shouldn't have. AT&T credited $27,776.66 to
his bill.
|
Beware cell phone charges
|
February 26
|
Costa Romatica
Costa Cruises
|
Merco
Press reports the ship is anchored seven miles off the Uruguayan
sea resort of Punta del Este after having suffered last night a brief
blackout caused by a fire in the generators room. It was traveling from
Rio do Janeiro where it left February 23 and was expected to reach
Buenos Aires early morning today. According to a release from Costa
Cruises the blaze was rapidly contained with no risk for passengers,
crew or the vessel. Travelers were immediately informed of the incident
and electricity was immediately restored with emergency equipment. A
team of Uruguayan experts with the support from the local Coast Guard
are currently assessing the extent of the damages and helping with the
repairs. The vessel is expected to resume its schedule this evening.
Most passengers on board are Brazilian, Argentines, Chileans and
Mexicans. Update: The Earth
Times reports 1,429 passengers and 590 crew members were
evacuated after efforts to repair the generator were unsuccessful.
Those on board were evacuated in boats to the resort town of Punta del
Esta about 13 kilometres from where the ship had anchored and about 120
kilometres east of Uruguayan capital Montevideo. They were then
transferred to Buenos Aires for flights home. Update: The cruise scheduled to
depart February 26 has been canceled given the need for repairs. As
reported at Cruising
Talk, passengers on that cruise were put up in hotels paid for by
Costa which is in the process of arranging an alternate vacation at a
land-based resort through March 12, when the cruise would have ended.
Those who do not want to take the resort option will receive a refund
of the amount paid and full assistance with their onward travels,
whether they booked their original air arrangements on their own or
with Costa. All guests on the canceled sailing will also receive a
credit equivalent to 50 percent of the fare paid (for the cruise only)
valid toward a future Costa cruise through December 31, 2010.
|
Fire -- Ship
evacuated
|
February 25
|
Serenade of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International
Island Star
Island Cruises
|
The Antigua
Sun reports a cruise passenger from SotS reportedly fell into a
manhole on Nevis Street in St. John's (Antigua). She was taken to the
ship for medical attention -- she sustained injuries to her legs. One
day earlier, a passenger from Island Star suffered the same fate,
falling into a manhole at the corner of High and Thames Street. The
uncovered holes are expected to be repaired by the Public Works
Department in the city.
|
Injuries onshore
|
February 23
|
Summit
Celebrity
Cruises |
Sixteen passengers were injured when their bus
apparently lost control and drove into a ditch while it was returning
to the ship from a shore excursion. The accident happened outside
Roseau, Dominica; some of the injured were flown to Miami for treatment
at Jackson Memorial Hospital. The passengers sustained injuries,
including broken bones, bumps, bruises and lacerations, however,
three people were more seriously injured; five of the 16 injured were
treated and released from the hospital in Dominica. The
passengers were returning from a Caribbean Cooking Adventure
shore excursion, in which they joined local culinary experts to
learn how to prepare and present traditional Caribbean dishes.
The three-and-a-half hour excursion concluded with a scenic drive
through Roseau before returning to the pier. The ship is sailing a
seven-night Caribbean cruise that departed San Juan on February 21.
|
Shore excursion
accident
|
February 23
|
Grand Princess
Princess
Cruises
Ventura
P&O
Cruises |
Caribbean
Net News reports strong winds prevented two of the four scheduled
cruise ships from docking at Port Zante (St. Kitts) over the weekend.
While Island Star and Carnival Victory were able to berth, Ventura
aborted efforts on Saturday, after trying to berth in winds up to 32
knots. On Sunday, unusually strong winds gusting as high as 45 knots
forced Grand Princess to turn away. Unrelated
missed ports: In other news, several cruise ships skipped port
calls at Guadeloupe and Martinique because of labour unrest on the
islands. Silversea's Silver WInd skipped Sri Lanka because of civil
unrest.
|
Missed port calls
|
February 22
|
Galaxy
Celebrity
Cruises |
From a passenger: Just came back from an 11 night cruise on
the Galaxy. We had cockroaches in our Royal Suite 1024. The ship had
propulsion problems while in port in St Lucia that delayed the ship for
about 4 hours. The sewer flooded in our cabin.
|
Propulsion problems
|
February 20
|
Multiple ships
|
The Antigua
Sun reports passengers/crew on four ships were robbed while in
Antigua yesterday. The robberies allegedly took place between Sand
Haven and Millers by the Sea. There were four cruise ships on island
and passengers from all of the vessels were reportedly robbed. The
ships were the Caribbean Princess, Azamar, Costa Atlantica and Thompson
Destiny. The police have reportedly managed to arrest a few persons in
connection with the robberies. They responded to a 911 call of a
robbery in progress at Fort James beach, where three youths, two 17
years old and one 19 from the Golden Grove and Villa Area were arrested
as they attempted to rob a crew member of a cruise ship.
|
Robberies ashore
|
February 19
|
Oceanic Discoverer
Coral
Princess Cruises
|
The Sydney
Morning Herald reports a 34 year old Australian crewman is
in a critical condition after being crushed by a hydraulic door during
a fire drill while the ship was moored in Hawkes Bay. He is in a
critical condition in Hawkes Bay hospital's intensive care unit. The
ship is on a 12-day cruise off New Zealand's coastline, starting in
Auckland and ending at Milford Sound. UPDATE
March 10: The man has subsequently died from his injuries.
|
Critical injury
|
February 17
|
Ocean Nova
Quark Expeditions
|
Jeanne
Leblanc's blog and Associated
Press report the ship, with 64 passengers and 41 crew members
aboard, ran aground about one mile (two kilometers) from the San Martin
base (Antarctica), pushed by "extremely high winds" into craggy rocks.
An initial assessment of damage indicated that there was no imminent
danger and no threat to lives and there is no sign of leakage of any
kind from the vessel. The ship was on its eighth day of a nearly
two-week expedition exploring the polar circle that embarked from
Ushuaia, Argentina's southernmost city. The company says the ship
should be able to break free on its own as the tide rises. UPDATE: The
Telegraph reports the ship was unable to free itself and that
passengers will be evacuated to other ships. Update February 23: The company
canceled today’s sailing from Ushuaia so the ship can undergo an
estimated three days of repairs. Passengers were rebooked on Polar Star
Expeditions' Polar Star’s Feb. 24 sailing, with Quark providing hotel
accommodations tonight and rearranging return flights. NOTE: Non
official sources on the Ocean Nova reports that the engine was shut off
and some maintenance was being done in the engine room (assume it was a
regular maintenance), but that is why they could not start the engine
immediately when the winds picked up. They had to put together whatever
it was that they had disassembled. |
Aground
|
February 15
|
Zaandam
Holland
America Line |
From a reader: My
mother and her husband are sailing aboard Holland America’s Zaandam,
which departed San Diego for Hawaii on February 5. Several days ago,
she called, saying passengers were reporting bouts of diarrhea and
vomiting. Sick passengers were being isolated in their rooms for 36-48
hours. According to her, self-serve buffets had been converted to
staff-served and regular cleaning crews had been replaced with special
personnel. Extra hand sanitizer had been placed in her room. Tonight,
she called again, saying she and her husband had been sick with
diarrhea, vomiting, fever and a neck rash for four days. UPDATE: The CDC reports 21 of 590
(3.6%) crew and 74 of 1408 (5.3) passengers have reported ill. The
cruise ends in San Diego on February 20.
|
Illness |
February 15
|
Serenade of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
The Juneau
Empire reports the ship was cited for one air quality violation in
Alaska during the 2008 cruise season. On August 28th the ship's smoke
emissions exceeded 20% opacity. |
Environmental
|
February 15
|
Rhapsody of the Seas
Royal Caribbean
International |
The Juneau
Empire reports the ships was cited for one air quality violation in
Alaska during the 2008 cruise season. On May 27th the ship's smoke
emissions exceeded 20% opacity. |
Environmental
|
| February 15 |
Norwegian Star
Norwegian
Cruise Line |
The Juneau
Empire reports the ship was cited for two air quality violations in
Alaska during the 2008 cruise season. On May 27th and September 2nd the
ship's smoke emissions exceeded 20% opacity.
|
Environmental |
| February 15 |
Oosterdam
Holland
America Line |
The Juneau
Empire reports the ship was cited for one air quality violation in
Alaska during the 2008 cruise season. On July 24th the ship's smoke
emissions exceeded 20% opacity. It also had an air opcity incident on
July 2nd, but a notice of violation was not issued.
|
Environmental |
| February 15 |
Island Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The Juneau
Empire reports the ship was cited for one air quality violation in
Alaska during the 2008 cruise season. On July 11th the ship's smoke
emissions exceeded 20% opacity. It also had air opcity incidents on
July 3rd and July 17th, but a notice of violation was not issued. |
Environmental |
| February 15 |
Clipper Pacific
International Shipping Partners
|
The Juneau
Empire reports the ship was cited for one air quality violation in
Alaska during the 2008 cruise season. On August 20th the ship's smoke
emissions exceeded 20% opacity. |
Environmental |
| February 15 |
Millennium
Celebrity Cruises |
The Juneau
Empire reports the ship was cited for an air quality violations in
Alaska during the 2008 cruise season. On August 28th the ship's smoke
emissions exceeded 20% opacity.
|
Environmental |
| February 15 |
Mercury
Celebrity
Cruises |
The Juneau
Empire reports the ships was twice cited for air quality violations
in Alaska during the 2008 cruise season. On July 23rd and August 11th
the ship's smoke emissions exceeded 20% opacity.
|
Environmental |
February 13
|
Explorer of the
Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
From
a passenger: Aboard the
Explorer of the Seas Feb 13 voyage from Bayonne, NJ. At
boarding we were informed that since the ship is unable to cruise at 22
Knots, and will, instead, make only 20 Knots, the schedule has been
adjusted slightly. The most significant change is in San Juan
where the ship will be in port from 7AM until 11:30AM. No details or
further explanations have been given.
|
Propulsion problems
|
February 13
|
Ecstasy
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
From Cruise
Critic: At 2:30am I got a wake
up call that I did not request....I woke up to the fire alarms going
off. I got up and immediately smelled smoke, I heard yelling in the
hall. I opened my cabin door which was E189 on the Empress Deck and
there was a lady in her undies yelling that the ship was on fire and
for us to evacuate. I got dressed, grabbed my purse, sail and sign
card and my life jacket. There
was NO crew members anywhere to be seen! No one telling us if the fire
was up or down, forward or aft. All I knew was that the Deck was hazy
with smoke and that the smell was horrible. I ended up following others
up to the Atlantic Deck to our muster station. Still no crew. It was
more then 15 minutes after arriving at the Starlight that the first
crew member showed up. She just told us basically to shut up and sit
down. An elderly lady was injured during the movement and another had
an asthma attack due to all the smoke. I called Carnival and spoke with
a sup. I
was told that it was a small fire (how small I don't know, it did cause
quite a bit of smoke and several cabins on that deck were not available
to their occupants for at least 3 hours and at least one passenger had
to be moved - I was in line behind her at the pursers desk - and one
couple in line to disembark were not allowed back into their cabin
right away and their carpet was soaking wet). Carnival is stating that
they are trying to keep it quiet. I suppose it would be bad publicity.
So I suppose that is why there are not any reports about it. Finally
the crew started showing up with
medical help. I do not know for sure who or what started the fire, but
I was told that some guy set towels afire in his cabin. I did see
someone (a male) being arrested before debarkation and being led away
in hand cuffs off the ship by Customs agents.
|
Fire
|
February 12
|
Emerald Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The Antigua
Sun reports the ship canceled its scheduled call to Antigua
yesterday due to the weather conditions. The vessel had entered the
entrance of the St. John’s Harbour channel when it decided to turn back
because the ship’s captain became very concerned about the ground
swells and the high winds. This forced him to cancel the call out of
safety for his passengers and crew.The President of the Antigua and
Barbuda Cruise Tourism Association said pilots at the Antigua and
Barbuda Port Authority tried to reassure the captain that they could
have brought in the cruise ship safely. This was, however, not enough
reassurance for the captain.
|
Canceled port call
|
February 11
|
Coral Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The ship reported 10 of 885 (1.13%)
crew and 164 of 1996 (8.22%) passengers had reported ill with
gastrointestinal illness on
a 10 day Caribbean/Panama Canal cruise (Fort Lauderdale return) that
February 3 and ends February 13. UPDATE
February 13: Numbers have been revised to 19 of
885 (2.1%)
crew and 252 of 1996 (12.6%) passengers. |
Illness |
February 9
|
Legend of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
A poster at Cruise
Critic reports the ship pulled in to Key West this morning due to a
faulty azipod. The azipod was leaking oil into the water and was
ordered into port by the Captain of the Port. She is moored in Key West
with a boom around her. Repairs were completed by the evening and the
ship was again on its way.
|
Oil leak from azipod
|
| February 9 |
Aurora Expeditions |
A passenger just returning from a cruise of the Ross
Sea (Antarctica) posted a review at TripAdvisor.
She cautions that the expedition cruise is not, as advertised, suitable
for people of all ages and physical abilities. She cites a fellow
traveller in her 80s who was tossed across her cabin in the rough
weather and seriously injured. She was stretchered ashore on our
arrival in NZ, and put into a waiting ambulance. She also tells (which
is of greater concern) about a boatload of passengers left alone on an
ice floe while the group expedition leader motored off in his zodiac
because, as he said, he was “busting for a pee”. During his absence
several icefloes came together in the current and, by the time he
returned 15-20 minutes later, his zodiac access was blocked. The
stranded passengers were only half-joking when they wrote HELP in the
surface snow to attract the attention of the ship’s helicopters flying
overhead |
Pax left on ice floe |
February 8
|
Seven Seas Voyager
Regent Seven Seas |
From a reader: A friend of mine called from the ship and
told me they are experiencing very rough seas in the Tasmanian
Sea. She is a very experienced cruiser and she said these are the
roughest seas she has ever experienced. Passengers are not allowed on
deck, waves are crashing into the balconies and dishes are breaking and
crashing in the dining rooms. The ship is scheduled to reach Sydney on
the 13th. From a passenger: Utter nonsense. I am on board the
Voyager. Was it rough - yes, it is the Tasman Sea. There were signs
posted asking us not to go out on decks 5 and 6 - for our own safety. I
am on deck 7 and would not have been stupid enough to go out on my
balcony but we were not "forbidden". Hardly the catastrophe the poster
led the readers to believe . . . we're in Sydney today - cool and
overcast.
|
Very rough seas
|
February 8
|
Rhapsody of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
ABC
(Australia) reports that passengers will be forced to disembark at
a buoy in the middle of Sydney Harbour on Tuesday (Feb 10) because all
other shipping berths are being used. They are full and the ship will
instead anchor at a harbour buoy and its passengers taken to land by a
smaller boat. This is a first for Sydney Harbour.
|
Strange disembarkation
|
February 6
|
Holiday
Carnival
Cruise Lines
|
WWLP-TV
in Mobile reports the ship's cruise ending yesterday dropped the port
call at Progreso due to technical problems. Passengers said Carnival
knew about the problems before they even got on board. Carnival handed
the boarding passengers a letter letting them know there was a problem
with the cruising speed so they'd only be stopping at Cozumel. Some
passengers said even the locals in Cozumel knew the boat was having
problems weeks ago. "All the locals telling me, don't get on that boat,
the boat broke," said one passenger. "I said the boat is broke? How
long has it been broke? They said for about three or four weeks," he
said. The ship arrived late (12:30 PM) in Mobile; as a result the
following cruise left late (9:30 PM). It, too, dropped its port call at
Progreso.
|
Propulsion problems
|
February 6
|
Balmoral
Fred
Olsen Cruises |
The Daily
Express and BBC
reports more than 230 people (about 13%) on board an 18-day cruise
of the Canary Islands and west Africa have been taken ill after an
outbreak of norovirus on their ship. About 50 passengers remain
confined to their cabins by the bug. The cruise operator said the liner
was refused entry the Cape Verde Islands following the outbreak. The
ship was now heading for the Canary Islands. |
Illness
|
February 6
|
Athena
Classic International |
The Adelaide
Advertiser reports the ship delayed its departure from Outer Harbor
by more than four hours tonight, frustrating passengers who had paid
more than $500 for a weekend cruise to Kangaroo Island. Passengers
arrived for the three-day cruise at 5pm, as the temperature reached
it's peak of 43.9 degrees. A short time later they were informed that
the cruise would depart at 10.30 pm - more than four hours after its
scheduled departure time of 6pm. One passenger, who did not want to be
named, said he had hoped the cruise would follow the coastline at
sunset, but that it would now leave well after dark.
|
Delayed departure
|
February 6
|
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
WPTV
reports a passenger was robbed on a Carnival cruise. She had locked
up her wedding ring, her engagement ring and other gold pieces in her
stateroom safe so they could go to Atlantis (Bahamas) for the day. When
she returned, she couldn't open the safe, and she called security who
opened it with a master key. She saw her jewelry box and thought
nothing of it...until she got home and says four thousand dollars in
jewelry was gone. The passenger wrote to Carnival several times, to
which they responded saying their employees are honest, courteous and
professional. Carnival Cruise Lines told WPTV there is little they can
do because the passenger didn't realize the jewelry was missing until
she got home. NOTE: The cruise
industry reported to the FBI 128 robberies between April 1, 2007 and
April 30, 2008.
|
Theft
onboard
(Alleged)
|
February 5
|
Unknown
|
The Antigua
Sun reports that two cruise ship passengers were reportedly
assaulted yesterday during an attempted robbery in the tourist area and
popular business district of Redcliffe Quay. The passengers, male and
female, were walking in Redcliffe Quay area when a man allegedly
grabbed the woman’s handbag, after putting up a short fight with her.
Her male companion reportedly tried to fight back but the robber still
managed to wrestle the bag away. The woman’s screams, however, alerted
the private security staff of Redcliffe Quay who immediately went to
her rescue. The security officer began chasing the robber, who
eventually dropped the bag and made good his escape.
|
Robbery ashore
|
February 5
|
Explorer of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
The Miami
Herald reports the ship was leaving Samana, Dominican Republic, on
January 29 when a propeller on one of the ship's engines struck an
unidentified object and was bent. The 11-day cruise skipped its last
port call in Labadee, Haiti, and returned to Cape Liberty, N.J., on
February 1. The present cruise skipped its port call in San Juan,
Puerto Rico, and is now en route to St. Thomas, where divers will
repair the propeller today. The St. Thomas port call has been extended
six hours to 11 p.m. Thursday. From a
passenger: The incident occurred at dinner time and vibration
was noted by several people. We were well within the buoyed channel. We
were compensated $ 100 per person by the line and extra activities were
planned by the crew. On the 30th, the ship stopped near Turks and
Caicos and allowed to drift for over an hour while divers were sent
down. They inspected and photographed the propeller and then came back
on board. I am a radio enthusiast and heard them say there was damage
to the blades. We then proceeded home at reduced speed.
|
Damaged propeller
|
February 4
|
Volendam
Holland
America Line |
Passengers were notified that the ship's call to
Petropavlovsk (Kamchatka), Russia on May 10, 2009 has been cancelled
and has been replaced with a call to Aomori, Japan. Passengers booking
shore excursion received full refunds. Shore excursions in Aomori will
be available in time.
|
Itinerary change
|
February 2
|
Athena
Classic International |
The
Islander (Australia) report two of the ship's tenders ran aground
off Kangaroo
Island. The ship was docked at Outer Harbor in Adelaide yesterday. One
tender ran aground with about 50 passengers and crew aboard. The other,
with three crewmen aboard, went to its aid and also ran aground.
Passengers were transported from the tender by a third tender as the
Cooinda charter vessel stood by and three helicopters, including
police, hovered in the area. Many more passengers were left stranded at
the wharf as one tender began the slow process of bringing them all
back to the cruise ship. The Cooinda tried to drag one tender to deeper
water about 4pm but decided it would have to wait until the tide was
higher, with high tide expected at 9pm. Local fisherman and boaties
were perplexed about why the ship had anchored where it was instead of
further into the bay where tenders would have a straighter run to the
jetty.
|
Aground
|
| Jan/Feb (exact date unknown) |
Hanseatic
Hapag
Lloyd |
I have heard about two accidents with zodiac drivers
this Antarctic season, but I found absolutely no news about them. For
one I have no details except that the driver hurt his arm and cannot
drive zodiacs anymore. He fell from the Zodiac while the engine was
running and his arm was hurt by the outboard engine propeler. The
second accident involved one of the ships officers.
Many of the officers of the Hanseatic used to drive the outboard
engines sitting on them with the accelerator stick betweeen the legs.
Drivers who got trained in the "old school", by an experienced driver
from an expedition ship, will always drive standing up, by the side of
the accelerator, holding it with one hand against one of the legs. Most
stand to the left of the engine holding it with their right hands, a
few to the right of the engine and hold the accelerator with the left
hand. This is safer and gives more freedom of movements. Many mechanics
have complained that sitting on the engine can damage the case and
eventually the engine. The driver has no balance, as he is leaning
against the engine. Well this driver used to sit on the engine, and as
he "mounted" his engine, the accelerator got caught on his pants,
accelerated the engine and he fell in water. The moving propeller cut
his scalp open, and lots of blood fell in the water. The boat drew a
big circle and came back to the sidegate, where people were able to
jump aboard and rescue the officer. It is said that it was luck
together with the cold Antarctic water that saved him. Most people who
were watching thought he was dead instantly, but the propeller did not
break the skull, just the scalp. |
Crew injuries |
January 31
|
Radiance of the Seas
Royal
Caribbean International |
El
Mercurio (Chile) reports that the ship arrived yesterday in Puerto
Montt with a 12 meter long dead humpback whale entangled on the bow.
The Navy undertook an inspection but was unable to determine whether
the whale was alive when it was struck. The remains of the animal were
removed by a fishing vessel and transported to the open sea. The two
thousand passengers on the cruise did not know of the whale strike when
it happened, but could see the whale on the bow when they tendered
ashore from the ship.
|
Whale strike
|
January 31
|
Carnival Splendor
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
From a passenger: In the port at Fort Lauderdale there was
an incident at the port terminal. Boarding passengers were evacuated
from
the terminal while the port
was closed. The Broward County Sheriff's Department, the bomb squad,
dogs and and
finally robots searched through the terminal and luggage for many
hours. I had been able to board the ship early on and observed from
the deck what I have just described. After I spoke via cell phone with
my friends who had been evacuated to another terminal during the
search, I approached a ship's officer immediately after he exited the
bridge and asked him what was occurring in the terminal. He said he did
not know for sure, but it was
surmised by the ship's officers that a bomb threat had been called in,
perhaps by one of the 100+
disgruntled passengers not allowed to board the ship due to lack of
Brazilian
visas. The ship departure was
delayed about 6 hours. The
Splendor's captain never provided any information about the cause of
the delay,
nor did he attend any
function on board where he
could be asked directly what had happened. The ship was beginning a
49-day circumnavigation of South America.
|
Delayed departure
--
?Bomb threat?
|
January 29
|
Stena Voyager
Stena
Line |
The
Herald (Scotland) reports 156 passengers and 23 crew members were
stranded onboard after a lorry broke free and burst through the cruise
ferry's rear door shortly after it set off from Stranraer, Dumfries and
Galloway. The ship was forced to head back to port with the lorry
hanging out of the back. But passengers and crew were not able to
disembark because the ferry could not berth, leaving them stuck on
board for a whole day. They were subsequently removed from the ship to
shore one-by-one by a fire service cherry picker. The lorry was later
lifted from the vessel, finally allowing the ferry to dock at the
harbour and the other vehicles to be removed. The lorry was a
tanker carrying non-hazardous ferrous sulphate powder and none of the
substance had leaked.
|
Accident
|
January 28
|
Ocean Dream
Pullmantur
Cruises
|
Grenadine police say they are investigating how a
38-year-old Colombian woman went missing after she disembarked the
ship. The employee disembarked the vessel on an early Tuesday port call
to the island but did not return.
|
Crew member missing
|
| January 27 |
Bremen
Hapag
Lloyd |
Otago Daily
Times reports a 40 year old Filipino crewman, whose arm was crushed
in a self-closing watertight door, was winched from the ship in 6 metre
swells by a New Zealand rescue helicoptor about 815 km south of
Invercargill. The crewman's worked in the laundry, and as the laundry
is on its own separate water-tight compartment, it is possible that he
had opened the water-tight door when it was closed. This is not
recommended, but its a common practice. The ships normally navigate
with the water-tight doors open, but when crossing ice fields, close to
rocks, or under heavy weather, the doors are normally closed. But as
crewmembers would have to go up and down stairs to move on the same
floor, it is common that people will open the doors no move from one
compartment to the other. |
Crewman seriously injured |
January 27
|
Vacancier
CTMA
|
CTV
reports the 300-passenger ship is stuck in the ice of the St.
Lawrence River since yesterday. It is trapped in a massive blanket of
ice that has frozen the ship's progress. The passengers were en route
to a week-long cross-country ski trip in the Chic-Choc mountains. Those
plans came to a grinding halt when the ice closed in around the ship
near Matane, Que. UPDATE: The
ship was freed after being stuck for 30 hours.
|
Stuck in ice
|
January 26
|
Sinfonia
MSC
Cruises |
O
Globo
reports the cruise following the outbreak reported January 8 (below)
had 46 passengers (approximately 3%) report ill. That was on a cruise
between Rio and Buenos Aires.
|
Illness |
January 24
|
Dawn Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The ship's port call at Otago (New Zealand) was delayed
because of dense fog. Rather than arriving at 8:30 AM, the ship set
anchor and finally entered the habour at 11 AM. Its departure from
Otago was delayed for two hours, but some shore excursions had still
been disrupted.
|
Fog-caused delay
|
January 22
|
Golden Princess
Princess
Cruises |
Associated
Press reports that a commercial fishing vessel nearly collided with
the cruise ship in Los Angeles harbor's main channel. A Coast Guard
spokesperson said a 31-foot-long fishing vessel "erratically" crossed
within about 30 feet of the front of the cruise ship as it entered the
harbor. The incident is under investigation. Federal law prohibits
vessels from coming within 200 yards in front and 100 yards behind or
to the sides of a cruise ship that is moving.
|
Near collision
|
January 20
|
Balmoral
Fred
Olsen Cruises |
BBC
reports that two passengers have been taken to hospital with broken
bones after the ship was hit by 50ft waves and winds of 60 mph in the
Bay of Biscay. The ship docked in the Spanish port of La Coruna after
setting sail from Dover January 17; it is due back in Dover on 27
January.
|
Injuries in high seas
|
January 19
|
Tahitian Princess
Princess
Cruises |
A blogger
onboard reports: At
approximately 4.30 PM there was an announcement by the Captain over the
speaker
system on the ship, broadcasting not only in the public areas but also
into the cabins (this indicated something of great importance) to say
that there had been an outbreak of the 'Norwalk Virus' on board and
that a number of people had been confined to their cabins and the
remainder of us should take extra care with hand washing etc., in order
to eradicate the problem. NOTE:
Because the ship is cruising to South America, the number of passengers
becoming ill will not be reported to or by the Centres for Disease
Control. However, it has been reported that 86
passengers were ill. |
Illness |
January 19
|
Ecstasy
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
Posters at Cruise
Critic report that ship is having
propulsion problems -- one person says the ship had been operating on
half power since Friday. It arrived late at Galveston today and there
is speculation the problem may influence the itinerary on the cruise
departing today.
|
Propulsion problems
|
January 16
|
Paradise
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
An elderly couple (aged 90 and 79) were reported
missing,
and cruise officials say they likely went overboard before the ship
docked in Long Beach. Carnival says the couple's cabin door was double
locked from the inside with a "do not disturb" sign on the
handle. The couple's personal belongings remained inside the cabin and
the door leading from the cabin to the balcony was unlocked.
|
Passengers overboard
|
January 15
|
Golden Princess
Princess
Cruises |
The ship was anchored offshore from Lahaina (Maui) and
unable to disembark passengers because of rough seas and weather
conditions. The ship was scheduled to allow passengers to go onshore at
Lahaina Harbor, but the captain feared the weather conditions would
deteriorate Thursday afternoon, making it unsafe for passengers who
would need to use a tender to get back to the ship. He was concerned
about having a large number of passengers onshore during the one-day
stop before going on to Ensenada, Mexico. If they were unable to
reboard, they would have to be flown to Ensenada.
|
Canceled port call
|
January 15
|
Carnival Conquest
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
The Southeast
Texas Record reports a lawsuit has been filed alleging a
13-year-old girl was sexually assaulted during a cruise last summer.
The girl was aboard the ship the afternoon of June 24 when a male
employee - a waiter at the ship's Lido Deck Buffet
- approached the teen as she went toward her cabin and made an
inappropriate pass at her, court papers say. "During the encounter in
the hallway, the Carnival employee made inappropriate and sexually
suggestive comments to the minor, grabbed her arm, and forcibly
attempted to pull her into an
elevator," the original petition says. The plaintiffs argue the waiter
also tried to kiss the girl's face and neck.
|
Sexual assault of
minor
|
January 15
|
Oceania
P&O
Cruises |
Holiday
Insiders reports police are investigating how a male passenger died
during a planned scuba diving trip during the ship's stop
in Tortola. The company said “Onboard sales of that particular
excursion have been suspended pending an investigation. The dive was
for PADI certified and experienced divers only and was operated in full
cooperation with PADI best practice and procedures.
|
Death on shore
excursion
|
January 14
|
MV Barranda (Tourist Yacht) -
Ecuador
|
News
Agency Trend News reports a yacht carrying 15 tourists caught fire
near Ecuador's national park on the Galapagos Islands but caused no
injuries. The fire broke out at about 1:00 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Bartolome
Island of the Galapagos Archipelago. All 15 tourists aboard were
immediately evacuated by another two tourist ships near the scene. UPDATE: The
Telegraph reports passengers had to go into the water and wait 30
minutes to be rescued. Shortly before the evacuation they had been told
the waters were known to be shark-infested.
|
Fire
|
January 13
|
Pacific Dawn
P&O
Australia |
The
Sydney Morning Herald reports that a 22 year old man has been
rescued after jumping from the ship when it was 20 miles off
Vila, Vanuatu at about 5am. The man, who had been in a restricted area,
was seen by a staff member who raised the alarm. A life buoy and smoke
flares were deployed. He was rescued within 45 minutes. A P&O
spokesman said the ship "was traveling at half-speed, about 12 knots,
and able to stop and then use the bow thrusters to turn around, without
having to do a Williamson maneuver [which would have required the ship
to complete a circular loop to turn around].'' Some reports say the man
was drunk following an all night party.
|
Person overboard - rescued
|
January 11
|
Ventura
P&O
Cruises |
The Sunday
Times (London) reports on a holiday cruise, ending in Barbados,
that has been described by some as a cruise from hell. The article
states: "Cruising etiquette went overboard with the new breed of
cut-price passengers, who tried to reserve sun beds all day by draping
towels over them and allegedly sent their underage children to the
ship’s 12 bars to stock up on alcohol. A brawl between two families
from Manchester apparently broke out over who was drinking the better
champagne. Children threw food at stewards and abused the ship’s
officers when asked to stop. Even the captain was booed when he tried
to count down to midnight on New Year’s Eve. And bad weather meant the
ship missed three of the six islands on its itinerary. Instead, it made
an unscheduled stop at St. Vincent to put ashore two youths (and their
guardian) who were behaving badly.
|
Cruise from hell
|
January 11
|
Teratai Prima
Indonesian ferry
|
BBC
reports
that a search operation is under way after the ferry, carrying about
250 passengers and 17 crew, sank in a storm ( a tropical cyclone caused
waves of 5 - 6 metres) in central Indonesia. A transport agency
spokesman earlier said 18 people were known to have survived -- it was
not immediately clear if the authorities expected to find more
survivors. The ferry was traveling from Pare Pare in South Sulawesi to
Samarinda in East Kalimantan when it went down. UPDATE: As of January
12, 245 people are still missing.
|
Sunk
|
January 10
|
Summit
Celebrity
Cruises |
Cruise
Critic reports the ship's January 31 cruise, originally a
seven-night Southern Caribbean cruise out of San Juan, has been
shortened by a day -- the port call at Tobago has ben cancelled. The
cruise will now end on Friday, February 6 (instead of the 7th). The
ship will then immediately head into dry dock to undergo repairs for
what the line describes as "an electrical problem." The dry dock is
expected to last four days. The next cruise aboard Celebrity Summit is
on scheduled to depart from San Juan on February 14; it was chartered
-- and therefore not open to the public for booking -- for its February
7 departure; that cruise has been canceled.
|
Cancellation
--
Altered itinerary
|
| January 9 |
Orchestra
MSC Cruises |
Passengers on the Jam Cruise (see http://jamcruise.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8925)
report an outbreak of an influenza-type illness that affect hundreds of
passengers. The CDC investigated the outbreak, but because it wasn't a
gastro intestinal illness it was not reported at their web site. |
Illness |
January 9
|
Maasdam
Holland
America Line |
From a Passenger: There
was an outbreak of what the cruise ship's medical staff was diagnosing
as a gastrointestinal virus on the January 2-9, 2009 sailing.
Five of our family's seven members on board, in
three separate cabins, were affected and spent multiple days in
isolation. I was told by my treating nurse that he was brought over
from the Noordam to assist due to the number of sick passengers. I have
not seen any reports of this anywhere yet. The passenger also
said he was told that more than 60 passengers had been treated for
gastrointestinal illness. The CDC subsequently
reported 8 of 561 (1.4%)
crew and 79 of 1402 (5.6%) passengers had reported ill with
gastrointestinal illness. |
Illness |
January 9
|
Mercury
Celebrity
Cruises |
The ship reported 3 of 859 (0.3%)
crew and 86 of 1842 (4.7%) passengers
had
reported ill with gastrointestinal illness on a 14 day Panama Canal
cruise (San Diego to Fort Lauderdale) that
began January 3 and ends January 17. Update
January 13: Numbers have been revised to 5 of 859 (0.6%) crew
and 127 of 1842
(6.9%) passengers. Update
January 17: Numbers have been
revised to 7 of 859 (0.81%) crew and 150 of 1842 (8.14%) passengers.
|
Illness |
January 8
|
Sinfonia
MSC
Cruises
|
The Associated
Press reports that more than 340 passengers were stricken with
severe vomiting and diarrhea. The Brazilian National Agency for
Sanitary Vigilance said in a statement that an inspection found
problems with the amount of chlorine in the ship's drinking water and
with the storage of some perishable food items, notably mayonnaise. But
officials said they would not know what caused the illness until they
wrap up their investigation. The health agency said the outbreak was
under control, and the victims were being interviewed and treated on
board the ship. Most fell ill on Monday and Tuesday. UPDATE: O
Globo reports the illness outbreak affected 380 people and is
attributed to norovirus. Estadao
reports: The
analysis of water was negative for all viruses and bacteria. In the
analysis of food, were found traces of the bacterium Escherichia coli
(known as E.coli) in samples of raw meat. |
Illness |
January 8
|
Pacific Dawn
P&O
Australia |
From a reader:
The
ship was due in Sydney this morning (around 7am, Sydney time) however
it is experiencing engine trouble and will not arrive in Sydney until
at least 5pm ... some ten hours late. The next cruise was due to
depart Sydney at 4pm, however passengers are being told to not
turn up at the wharf until 9pm.
|
Engine problems
--
Delayed debarkation
|
| January 8 |
M/V Explorer |
The ship reported 9 (3.95%) crew and 25
(3.40%) passengers had reported ill with gastrointestinal illness on a
circle ending to0day in Fort Luaderdale. |
Illness |
January 7
|
Sun Princess
Princess
Cruises |
Hawke's
Bay Today reports three passengers (one a seven-year-old boy who
needed cut on his head stitched) needed medical care following a
traffic accident when a car crossed into the path of their tour bus
with 26 passengers. The accident, which occurred in Napier (New
Zealand) brought residents out to comfort the 26 shocked passengers
with tea and biscuits while ambulance officers checked them over.
|
Accident on Shore Excursion
|
January 6
|
Richard With
Hurtigruten |
Cruise
Business Review reports that the ship ran aground at the port of
Trondheim on the west coast of Norway at 0757 this morning. It suffered
propeller damage and took on board water through a leak in a seal and
the 153 passengers on board have been evacuated. The ship was so close
to the pier that the rescue operation could be conducted by the local
emergency services from land. The vessel is now sitting on a mud bank
and divers have been sent to investigate damage to the hull. No damage
to the hull had been detected, but it is expected that the ship will
have to enter dry dock for repairs and inspection.
|
Grounded
|
January 4
|
Arcadia
P&O
Cruises |
Cruising
Talk reports that the ship had an extended stay in Barcelona due to
a mechanical problem during the current cruise. One report said it was
the pods and another her stand-by generator. Her call at Vigo was
cancelled and passengers have received £100.00 in compensation.
She is due to arrive in Southampton about 06.00 hrs on the 5th January
2009 and expected to sail for Palma at 17.00 hrs. UPDATE: The ship arrived in
Southampton early, however its departure was delayed. This
Is Hampshire reports that a problem had developed with the vessel's
emergency electrical back-up system forcing the ship to stay in port.
The spare parts are being flown to Southampton from Italy. P&O
Cruises says, "The situation is still being assessed but it is hoped
that the ship will leave later today."
|
Engine problems
|
January 3
|
Holiday
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
From a passenger:
The ship's arrival and debarkation at Mobile (after a five night
cruise) was delayed due to dense fog, preventing the pilot vessel from
dropping off the pilot until 11AM. The ship finally arrived in
port at 2:45 PM. Passengers were given food/restaurant seating at
regular lunch time and Sign & Sail cards re-activated until
arrival. Debarkation went very quickly after arrival.
|
Delayed debarkation / embarkation
|
January 1
|
Corinthians 2
Polar
Cruises
|
The ship was supposed to leave Ushuaia tonight, but it
is
having some trouble with fuel and will stay in Ushuaia tomorrow, and
offer a catamaran trip to their passengers.
|
Delayed departure |
January 1
|
Sensation
Carnival
Cruise Lines |
The United States Coast Guard received a report that an
employee fell overboard approximately 20 miles off the coast of Vero
Beach. Friends saw the 26 year old man from California fall around 82
feet below into the water at
about 12:50AM,
threw him a life ring and notified the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard has
launched a helicopter unit to search for the man. The ship's docking in
Port Canaveral was delayed until 9:30AM while it participated in the
search. Carnival said in a statement that the man, a singer with
a band that had performed on the top deck, was not on duty at the time
and that six other
crew members saw him fall. He was reportedly trying to take a picture
when he went overboard. |
Crew overboard |
Click here for events in 2008 |
